ASU junior guard Elisha Davis leads the team in celebration after the ASU defense holds in the final seconds of ther 53-52 victory over Stanford on Feb. 6, 2015, at the Wells Fargo Arena. (Daniel Kwon/The State Press)4:35 remaining in the game. The ASU women's basketball team has fought back from a 12-point deficit to take a 53-49 lead.
Stanford sophomore guard Lili Thompson, controlling the ball on the 3-point line, sidesteps ASU junior guard Elisha Davis, but the defender recovers. With a hand in her face, Thompson chucks up a three.
Bank shot. Money.
She shrugs as she jogs back down the court, but she’s grown accustomed to making tough 3-pointers: she’s shooting 39 percent from behind the ark on the year, and Stanford is tied for fourth in the league in three-point percent.
That was set to be a battle coming into the game — ASU is fifth in the nation at defending the three. In an overall poor first half, the one positive was that Stanford made just two 3's.
The score: 53-52. ASU needs to maintain momentum. The Sun Devils went on a 16-0 run en route to taking the lead, in large part because of sophomore forward Kelsey Moos. She had eight points during that stretch, including a 3-pointer off a steal that got the entire crowd in the game.
She said that getting stops on defense helped boost their transition game, and redshirt junior guard Katie Hempen said they became more patient in the second half. They made extra passes and by being more vigilant, they were able to become more aggressive.
“We got in bonus really quick in the second half and that’s because we started being aggressive,” Hempen said.
ASU junior guard Katie Hempen shoots a 3-pointer in the second half vs. Stanford women’s basketball on Feb. 6, 2015,
at the Wells Fargo Arena. Hempen would hit a key 3-pointer
late in the game to help the Sun Devils rally to a 53-52
victory of the Cardinal. (Daniel Kwon/The State Press)
It was the first time in the game that someone other than sophomore center Quinn Dornstauder was consistently hitting shots. Dornstauder had 15 first half points, well on her way to break her career-high of 19. She showcased her hook shot was more aggressive than usual.
She said the game plan was “to post up low and go into a quick shot,” and it didn’t matter if it was her or sophomore Sophie Brunner at the center position.
53-52. 4:09 remaining. Junior guard Peace Amukamara turns the ball over. This was a concern of head coach Charli Turner Thorne going into the game.
“They’re so good at stripping,” Turner Thorne said. “The three guards that start, they usually probably average about seven to eight steals.”
ASU finished with 11 turnovers. Stanford had 10.
“I thought we did a good job at playing strong with the ball,” Turner Thorne said. “Wish we would’ve forced a few more.”
53-52. 3:13. This time, Davis turns the ball over. Senior guard Amber Orrange gets a shot down court off of it, but misses.
She was part of the three-guard attack in the first half that had pushed Stanford to a 31-22 lead at intermission. At that time, she, Thompson and sophomore guard Briana Roberson had combined for 23 points — not coincidentally, more than ASU’s total.
A large part of their success had come off the pick-and-roll game. Stanford was actually setting two screens on these.
The first was a high screen on the on-ball defender. The ball handler would drive by — the same as any on-ball screen.
The second screen was set by the low-post player on her own interior defender. She would turn, face her defender, and block her off from being able to help. This resulted in many wide-open layup opportunities for Stanford. Most fell.
In the second half, ASU was more aggressive at defending these and a second defender would leap out to attack the penetrator.
53-52. 1:54. Stanford grabs an offensive rebound off a missed Roberson shot and freshman forward Kaylee Johnson goes to the free throw line.
The offensive rebounding killed ASU early. In the first half, Stanford had 10 second-chance points; ASU had two. In the second half, ASU recovered on that end in large part thanks to Brunner’s three offensive rebounds. She had five in the whole game, and 10 total rebounds. She didn’t score a single basket, though, and was fouled on her only shot attempt.
“We ask her to do so much defensively,” Turner Thorne said. “She anchors our defense, anchors our rebounding.”
ASU senior guard Promise Amukamara drives in the second half vs. Stanford women’s basketball on Feb. 6, 2015, at the
Wells Fargo Arena. Amukamara and the Sun Devils' defense
would tighten up in the second half and would come out with
a 53-52 victory of the Cardinal. (Daniel Kwon/ The State
Press)
On offense in this game, she looked to pass. On one play with about 10 minutes remaining in the game, senior guard Promise Amukamara grabbed an offensive rebound and passed Brunner the ball down low. Posting up her defender, she spotted Moos wandering around the mid-range zone.
She hit her with a pinpoint pass. Moos nailed the jumper and tied the score at 42. It was the closest the score had been since ASU led 7-6 with 14:18 in the first half.
There were under two minutes remaining and Johnson was at the line. She missed the first with Nightmare Before Christmas’ Jack dancing within the Curtain of Distraction. She missed the second.
53-52. 1:11. Dornstauder continues her rage of a game, blocking Orrange near the hoop. She was up to 22 points.
This was in part because of early foul trouble by Brunner. In the first two and a half minutes, she picked up two fouls. Dornstauder did everything necessary to fill her void.
Her success was also in part due to her work ethic, Turner Thorne said. She came to shootaround early to work on her hook shot because she wouldn’t be able to pivot around Stanford double-teams.
53-52. 0:52. Dornstauder is given the ball in the post — finally, ASU is just going to the hot hand. She misses but pulls down an offensive rebound. Hempen re-sets the play, drives right, and leaps up to pass the ball cross-court to Davis. It’s tipped and the defense grabs it.
Turning to race down court, Roberson gets stripped by Davis. As the two race for it, Davis goes to save it from going out of bounds. She received a violation for carrying the ball.
53-52. 0:26. There has been no scoring in more than four minutes, but if there is one more basket, it’ll decide the game. Orrange penetrates and passes to Roberson, who passes to Thompson. They can’t get a play going and Stanford calls a timeout.
53-52. :05. Roberson gets the ball on the inbound. Johnson steps out quickly to pick her defender, Davis. Brunner rotates over and puts a hand in her face to contest the shot.
Stanford's Briana Roberson misses the game-winning jumper. from The State Press on Vimeo.
It bounces off the back of the rim. ASU wins.
This was ASU’s first sweep of Stanford since 1984.
“Beating Stanford is just such a mental hurdle for our team,” Moos said. “When you can finally overcome beating Stanford, that’s when you know your team has reached mental toughness.”
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow @Logan_Newsman on Twitter.
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