No. 23 ASU women’s basketball lost to No. 10 Washington on Sunday 70-57, as the Sun Devils suffered their first Pac-12 loss in their last three conference outings.
“We just needed to be more locked in,” head coach Charli Turner Thorne said through Sun Devil Athletics. “We totally allowed them to do things that we didn’t want to allow them to do.
As the narrative usually goes for the Huskies, it was senior point guard Kelsey Plum and senior center Chantel Osahor that did most of the damage. The Sun Devils couldn't slow down the Huskies duo, and it didn't help matters when senior center Quinn Dornstauder got into foul trouble early in the game.
“We had some silly fouls,” Turner Thorne said. “Obviously Quinn in foul trouble the whole game hurts us.”
Dornstauder had two fouls before the four-minute media timeout in the first quarter, sending her to the bench for the remainder of that period. She picked up her third foul early in the second quarter after returning.
Dornstauder’s foul trouble wasn’t ASU’s only issue. The Sun Devils let the leading scorer in Division I women’s basketball do what she does best: score. Plum had a game-high 29 points, just about one point shy of her season average (30.9).
.@KelseyPlum10 just doing her thing for @UW_WBB
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) February 13, 2017
Her 29-point performance is the @OpusBank #12Best Moment! pic.twitter.com/tpZ5vMbWTx
Washington’s Osahor is the leading rebounder in the country, entering Sunday's matchup averaging 14.9 boards per game. She put her dominance down low on display against ASU, finishing with 18 rebounds while also chipping in 18 points to help Plum in the scoring department.
“If we’re going to be that inconsistent on defense, we better really heat it up,” Turner Thorne said. “We better shoot lights out and come down and finish our shots.”
Offensively for the Sun Devils, senior forward Sophie Brunner led the way with 16 points and six rebounds in 32 minutes of play.
Surprisingly, the second leading scorer for ASU on Sunday was freshman point guard Reili Richardson, who had 13 points, four boards and three assists.
The ASU coaching staff has tried to make a push to allow for Richardson to look for her shots, and she did just that on Sunday. Richardson was two for five from 3-point range while making five of six from the charity stripe.
ASU now gets a few days of before the first of a home-and-home series with in-state rival Arizona on Friday night in Tucson.
“Over and over, every person on our team allowed them to do things that we said no they’re not allowed to do this, no they’re not allowed to do that,” Turner Thorne said. “That’s where we got to grow, and we knew it, and just didn’t quite get it done tonight.”
Reach the reporter at thandlan@asu.edu or follow @Tyler_Handlan on Twitter.
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