No. 9 ASU women's basketball couldn't clinch its first outright regular season Pac-12 title on Sunday, falling to No. 14 UCLA by a score of 74-61.
Despite the loss, the Sun Devils (25-5, 16-2 Pac-12) share the conference title with No. 7 Oregon State and will be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Pac-12 tournament in Seattle. The Beavers are the No. 1 seed by virtue of their tie-breaking 67-44 victory over ASU on February 1st.
The Bruins (22-7, 14-4 Pac-12) will be the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament thanks to a statement victory over the Sun Devils that saw two of its stars score over 20 points. Senior guard Nirra Fields dropped 24 points to go along with four steals while sophomore guard Jordin Canada finished with 22 points and five assists.
ASU was led once again by junior center Quinn Dornstauder, who scored 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting, but her efforts were not enough as her team struggled mightily to defend one of the highest-scoring teams in the country.
UCLA got their offense rolling from the get-go, but it was the Bruins' defense that stood out in the early going and throughout a relatively dominant victory. ASU just couldn't find its rhythm against a 2-3 zone that forced them into shooting contested three-pointers that often came late in the shot clock.
After a quarter in which the Sun Devils went 0-of-5 from beyond the arc, they trailed UCLA 19-12.
It wasn't until its 11th three-point attempt that ASU finally made a long distance shot, but the pace of the high-flying Bruins was too much for them to handle on both ends of the court. UCLA's stifling defense forced turnovers that led to fastbreak buckets on the offensive side and prevented the Sun Devils from finding any kind of groove.
At the half, the Bruins held on to a 38-29 lead after holding ASU to 39 percent shooting.
The third quarter proved disastrous for the Sun Devils, who fell behind by as many as 17 before the stellar play of Dornstauder got them back within striking distance. UCLA led by 12 through three.
ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne switched her team into a zone defense to try and counteract the low post presence of the Bruins, who finished with 38 points in the paint. This strategy proved useful as the shots started missing for UCLA and the Sun Devils began to attack the gaps successfully on the other end.
ASU got within a margin of 60-55 before having to play the foul game and failing to convert on their offensive opportunities, losing by a final margin of 74-61 in a crucial late season game.
Next up for the Sun Devils will be the winner of the Utah vs. California game in the Pac-12 tournament. As a top-four seed, ASU gets a bye on Thursday before playing its first game on Friday in Seattle. All games in the Pac-12 tournament will be broadcasted on the Pac-12 networks.
Note: Due to an editing error, ASU was mislabeled in the Pac-12 standings. It has been corrected.
Reach the reporter at rclarke6@asu.edu or follow @RClarkeASU on Twitter.
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