ASU’s final comeback ran short Friday as second seed Florida State defeated the Sun Devils 66-65 in the Sweet 16 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The game ended in a way that had haunted ASU throughout. With five seconds left, ASU inbounded the ball after a FSU free throw. They raced up court.
With about two seconds left, junior guard Peace Amukamara tried to race through defenders running up court. She had the ball knocked away by Seminoles redshirt senior guard Maegan Conwright behind the 3-point line. Nobody could retrieve it.
“We have a four-second play where we up-screen,” ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “(Peace) actually had Kelsey open down court.
Though Peace has improved throughout the year, she’s not accustomed to that type of situation.
“She’s a first-year player, “ Turner Thorne said. “I’m not even exactly sure she knew what she was looking for.”
Typically, her older sister Promise would be in the game.
The elder Amukamara had fouled out of the game with 2:11 remaining and ASU trailing by six points. She had to watch as her team finished her senior year without her.
“(There were) some really tough calls on Promise,” Turner Thorne said. “The fact that our one senior wasn’t in the game down the stretch really hurt us.”
She did all she could to help the team get into that situation, though. At halftime, ASU trailed by 11 after FSU went on an 11-0 run in the final 2:48 of the half.
The run was started by a steal from sophomore guard Leticia Romero. She raced up court and laid the ball in. On the next possession, she got another steal and assisted the fast break.
“She did a great job,” Turner Thorne said. “She’s a very talented player and she really stepped up.”
The Spaniard began the run in the first half and led the team late in the second. She scored six of FSU’s eight points in the final four minutes of the game.
She finished with 21 pointsoff an array of pumps, dribbling moves and accurate shooting in general.
Leading by two with 23 seconds remaining, Romero hit a fadeaway jumper from within the elbow. It ended up icing the game.
“If Promise wasn’t in foul trouble — when somebody gets hot against us, we put Promise on them,” Turner Thorne said.
Amukamara was out and Romero was on fire.
The only player on the floor to score more points than Romero was ASU redshirt junior Katie Hempen. The sharpshooter went 3-for-6 from behind the arc and got fouled on three other 3-point attempts. She made all nine of her free throws.
“She absolutely put us in a position to win the game, like she does — like she has on many occasions this year,” Turner Thorne said.
She was the catalyst of ASU’s comeback. In a five and a half-minute period at the beginning of the second, Hempen scored 11 points and ended up tying the game at 44 on a trio of free throws.
She wasn’t just shooting threes. She drove and found mid-range opportunities often, and the team did a good job of giving her picks to get her open.
Despite her heroics, ASU never led in the second half. They would tie, give up a few points, come back, then fall behind again.
It wasn’t due to lack of preparation. ASU’s main concern coming into the game was Florida State’s rebounding abilities. The Seminoles had not been outrebounded in the entire season.
On Wednesday, Turner Thorne said her team didn’t have to outrebound FSU, but they had to keep it close.
FSU had only 30 rebounds, about 14 belowits average. ASU had 26. Sophomore forward Sophie Brunner led the floor with eight.
“If we hung around the boards, we’d be okay, but we never anticipated the turnovers,” Turner Thorne said.
That was the deciding factor. ASU had 23 turnovers, the final of which was Peace’s game-ending turnover.
The Sun Devils finished the season with a 29-6 record. The Sweet 16 finish was the best since 2007. Promise Amukamara finished her career with 995 points in 131 games.
“This has been one of my most fun seasons ever in coaching, because this team is so tough and so fun to coach, and no drama and no unselfishness,” Turner Thorne said.
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow @Logan_Newsman on Twitter.
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