Head coach Charli Turner Thorne and her ASU women’s basketball team knew what they were getting into when they prepared to face Kelsey Plum and No. 8 Washington.
The senior guard who leads the nation with 30.7 points per game – six more than the second-highest scorer and 18 more than any Sun Devil – has been garnering national attention all season thanks to her habit of scoring from anywhere on the court.
And she made those talents abundantly clear when it mattered most Sunday night at Wells Fargo Center.
Behind Plum’s game-high 34 points – 15 of which came in the final period – the Huskies moved into sole possession of first place in the Pac-12 standings with a road win over 19th-ranked ASU, winning in Tempe by a final scorer of 65-54.
“I knew it would be a challenge for our young guards to guard a player like Plum,” Turner-Thorne said of the prolific 5-foot-8 guard. “Definitely the best player they've had to guard all year."
With just over seven minutes to play and the game locked at 48, freshman guard Reili Richardson – who had been putting on a valiant defensive effort against the unstoppable Plum – went down hard and left the game.
During what ended up being a brief absence by the freshman, Plum and the Huskies took over, going on a 17-6 run to close the game.
So the Pac-12's all-time leading scorer is 5/5 in this 4th quarter #Pac12WBB
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) January 16, 2017
Watch: https://t.co/YfMNDWtSGW https://t.co/ljOn8C0smq
"That was a great battle," Turner Thorne said. "That was a critical juncture in a one possession game when Reili went down. That was tough, because she's really doing such an amazing job running our team and running the show and that hurt us."
Richardson was able to return in the final minutes, but by the time she re-entered the game, Washington’s damage had been done.
"You never want to see a player go down," said senior forward Quinn Dornstauder. "I don't think it comes down to one player making all the difference, it's a team thing, but of course it's never good to see someone go down."
That said, Richardson’s performance was once again impressive. The prolific scorer and defender finished with a team-leading 11 points, as well as seven rebounds and seven assists, while also playing a key role in holding Plum to nine first-half points.
According to Turner Thorne, there doesn't seem to be much threat of Richardson missing playing time going forward due to the injury, but it certainly did a number on her team's chances against Washington.
"When Reili went down, that kind of did it for us," Turner Thorne said. "The thing that Reili does, she just really makes our offense go, she's just so poised and savvy out there, so amazing in transition. It would've been nice to finish the game with her and see how things played out."
To put her night into perspective, Plum scored more than half of the points for a Huskies team that averages over 88 points per game.
With another breakout performance, she moved into 7th on the all-time NCAA scoring list at 3,041 points, passing the likes of Maya Moore and Elena Della Donne.
While Plum was obviously the game’s top performer, ASU also struggled to stave off the efforts of bulky and physical 6-foot-2 senior forward Chantel Osahor.
Osahor, the nation’s top rebounder averaging 13.4 boards per game, finished with a line of 10 points and 20 rebounds and had two key post finishes to start the game-sealing Husky run.
Sophie Brunner, who had been going up against Osahor on both ends, finished with eight points and nine boards.
"She's a good player," Brunner said. "We respect that, we know she's a great passer, a great scorer, she does a lot of great things for them. Part of our game plan was to disrupt that, and I don't think we totally cracked her."
Up next for the Sun Devils is a two-weekend tour through the Golden State that will feature three teams currently ranked in the top 25. The first, Friday’s matchup against California, will pit two teams coming off of tough losses, and will tip off at 9:00 p.m. on Friday.
Reach the reporter at jeff.griffith21@asu.edu or follow @Jeff_Griffith21 on Twitter.
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