Nov. 21, 2003
TEMPE, Ariz. - Freshman Alisha Godette scored 16 points in her Sun Devil debut to lead the Arizona State women's basketball team to an 80-48 win over Akron in ASU's first regular season game Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena.
Both teams got off to a rocky start on the offensive end of the court, and their shots refused to fall in the first few minutes of the game. After an 8-8 tie with 11:47 left in the first half, ASU scored the next six points to go up 14-8 with 9:52 left and never looked back. The Sun Devils built a double-digit lead a few minutes later and led 41-25 at the half. Sophomore YoVanna Rosenthal matched her career best in the first half with 10 of her 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting including a career-best two three-pointers.
ASU settled down in the second half and ended up shooting 47.2 percent in the final 20 minutes. The Sun Devils opened the half on a 7-3 run to push their lead to 20 with 17:18 to go in the game. Akron cut the lead to 16 with 15:28 to play, but Arizona State answered with a 12-0 run to take a 63-35 advantage with 9:48 to play en route to the 80-48 victory.
"We had a few first game jitters. It's very easy to let your offense affect your defense," ASU eighth-year head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "We didn't let it affect our defense tonight. We're going to score off the pressure of our defense."
The Sun Devils finished with a 58-29 advantage on the boards and shot 43.7 percent from the game compared to just 28.0 percent for Akron.
Godette led all scorers with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Rosenthal finished with a career-best 13 points, while sophomore Amy Denson and freshman Aubree Johnson also chipped in 13 points apiece. Godette, Denson and junior Carrie Buckner each turned in a game-high eight rebounds, while freshman Emily Westerberg led the Sun Devils with seven assists to just one turnover in her Sun Devil debut.
Arizona State returns to action Sunday night, taking on Grambling State at 6:30 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena.