Two down, 25 more to go.
The ASU women's basketball team began its 2003-04 campaign with a bang as it picked up a pair of blowout victories this weekend at Wells Fargo Arena, defeating Akron 80-48 on Friday and Grambling State 89-51 on Sunday.
Against Grambling State, the Sun Devils finally regained the services of junior forward Betsy Boardman, who missed all of last season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
In her first regular season game in more than a year, Boardman led the contest in scoring with 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting.
"I don't know if I can quantify what it's like having Betsy back," ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "She's never worn a knee brace. There is no sign of injury. She does a lot of little things that help you win games."
Boardman had to sit out the season opener against Akron due to a suspension that she had yet to serve for more than a year because of the injury. She picked up the suspension by playing in an unauthorized pickup game during the summer of 2002 with a group of friends.
ASU junior forward Amy Denson scored the first nine points of the game for the Sun Devils. After Denson buried the game's opening lay-up following a steal by Boardman, the Sun Devils never relinquished their lead.
The game was frequently interrupted by fouls as the officials blew the whistle 57 times. ASU committed 25 infractions, and the Tigers shot 21-of-29 from the charity stripe.
"[Officials] are calling things tighter in [nonconference play]," Turner Thorne said. "We can't put a great team to the line 29 times and expect to win. Grambling is a very young team and their youth showed tonight."
Denson and junior point guard Kylan Loney, who shot 5-for-5 from the field, each chipped in 13 points.
The Tigers made just 14-of-57 shots from the field.
The Sun Devils started Friday's game against Akron with some ice-cold shooting. But luckily, the Zips' shooting was even more frigid. Both teams missed the first 17 shots of the game combined.
Akron sophomore forward Angie Hutchinson scored the first points of the game on two free throws two minutes and 37 seconds into the game.
The Sun Devils finally got on the board when true freshman forward Emily Westerberg made one of two free throws.
It took ASU's offense about two more minutes to warm up before the floodgates broke when sophomore guard YoVanna Rosenthal drained a three-pointer.
With the score knotted at eight and just over 11 minutes remaining in the opening period, the Sun Devils went on a 33-17 run to end the half.
"We had a few first-game jitters and it showed," Turner Thorne said. "For them to keep coming down and sticking with the defense is really a good sign."
ASU kept the pressure on in the second half as the team forced the Zips into a number of key turnovers, which the Sun Devils turned into points. ASU improved its field-goal shooting from 40 percent in the first half to 47.2 percent in the second.
The Zips never found their touch; they shot just 14-for-50 in the game.
"Our emphasis is defense," Rosenthal said. "We're mainly going to score off pressure of our defense. We expect to do that game-in and game-out."
Rosenthal set career highs in every offensive category as she had to fill in for Loney, who was in foul trouble throughout the game. Rosenthal shot 5-for-7 for 13 points, including 3-for-5 from three-point range.
True freshman Alisha Godette led all scorers in the game with 16 points in her regular season debut.
Reach the reporter at christopher.drexel@asu.edu.
