For any college athlete, senior day is always special. It's even better when you win by 20 points.
In what was the final home game of its 2015-16 regular season, No. 9 ASU women's basketball defeated Washington 77-57. It was also the final regular season home game for five Sun Devil seniors: guards Promise Amukamara, Elisha Davis, Arnecia Hawkins and Katie Hempen, as well as forward Eliza Normen.
Hempen and Davis combined for 22 points and 15 assists, but it was the performance of junior center Quinn Dornstauder that stood tall (literally) in this emotionally charged game. Dornstauder finished with a career-high 25 points on 11-of-19 shooting, and said she had fun watching the tribute videos for the five seniors after the game was over.
"They're a huge part of our team and we're really gonna miss them," Dornstauder said. "We're just really excited, and there's a ton of season left, so nobody is even thinking that this is the end."
The nation's second-leading scorer, junior guard Kelsey Plum, came out firing on all cylinders in the first quarter for Washington. Nailing three shots from beyond the arc and knocking down two at the free throw line, Plum had 11 points in the opening frame.
Plum finished with 25 for the Huskies (18-9, 9-7 Pac-12) despite a dismal second quarter in which she shot 0-of-7 from the field.
The Sun Devils (24-4, 15-1 Pac-12) struggled to attack Washington's 2-3 zone in the first quarter of play, settling for contested three-point shots and failing to make any of their six attempts from deep. Inversely, the Huskies hit five of their eight three-point attempts and led 21-12 after one.
Head coach Charli Turner Thorne must have lit a fire under her team during the break between quarters, because the first three possessions of the second featured three trips to the free throw line by junior forward Sophie Brunner and Dornstauder.
Turner Thorne said Dornstauder was on fire all week at practice, which showed on Sunday.
"I was fairly confident that she was going to go off today," Turner Thorne said. "Even at shootaround she stayed extra and just made everything."
Hitting three of their six free throw attempts, Brunner and Dornstauder brought the game within six before a three-pointer by Washington erased all they had worked for in previous possessions.
It was at that point when Davis took over, nailing two huge threes to pull her team within one. ASU won the second quarter 16-9 and entered the half trailing 30-28.
The third quarter featured plenty of back-and-forth as the lead was exchanged six times before a moment that proved to be the turning point for the Sun Devils. Down one, Dornstauder got the ball on the left block and turned for a hook shot before Plum pulled her hair and sent her careening down onto the hardwood.
Tempers flared as players jawed at one another while the officials determined that it was a flagrant foul. ASU went on a 15-0 run after that play.
As with any senior day, emotions were running high at Wells Fargo Arena on Sunday — that was exemplified by a chippy, hotly contested third period that included a multitude of technical and flagrant fouls.
After the 15-0 Sun Devil run, junior forward Kelsey Moos got tied up on a rebound with Washington forward Katie Collier and exchanged words before Davis came storming in to defend her teammate. Both Davis and Collier were assessed technical fouls, and ASU led 54-43 through three.
Davis said the flagrant foul on Plum definitely proved to be a momentum shifter in a game that was close up until that point.
"It just shows that they were just trying to deter us," Davis said. "If somebody's gonna try to do anything to get us off track ... nothing bothers us at all."
In the fourth quarter, after a steal by Brunner, Washington's Chantel Osahor grabbed Brunner in the arm and neck region to prevent her from running out on the fast break. Players were separated once again, and Osahor was assessed a flagrant foul for her actions.
The Sun Devils responded by breaking the game open and holding onto a 20-point lead, allowing for coach Turner Thorne to put all five seniors on the floor for a brief stretch before they exited to a standing ovation and were honored individually after the game.
While it may have had the appearance of a highly emotional and reflective day, neither Turner Thorne nor her players said that they're treating it that way — especially considering they have a strong chance to the first two rounds of their NCAA tournament run in Tempe.
"We have a lot of basketball left, and by the time they're seniors they sort of get that," Turner Thorne said. "That's why it was so amazing to have so many people come out (on Sunday) to support them and help celebrate their careers and legacy at ASU."
The Sun Devils head to Los Angeles for their final two games of the regular season, scheduled to face USC on Friday and No. 12 UCLA on Sunday. When the regular season concludes, ASU will head to Seattle for the Pac-12 tournament.
Reach the reporter at rclarke6@asu.edu or follow @RClarkeASU on Twitter.
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