TEMPE, Ariz. – The No. 13 Arizona State women’s basketball team had its second-longest winning streak in school history come to an end on Sunday. In a matchup between the only two unbeaten teams in Pac-12 play, it was ninth-ranked Oregon State who prevailed, defeating the Sun Devils 68-57.
In addition to ending ASU’s winning streak at 14 games, the Beavers (18-1, 8-0 Pac-12) also took over sole possession of first place in the Pac-12.
Jamie Weisner had 21 points and five rebounds to lead the Beavers, who used a 23-4 run over the last three-plus minutes of the first half and the first four-plus minutes of the second half to take control of the game.
“You have to give credit to Oregon State,” head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “They stepped up and hit shots. They hit their free throws, and they did what I expected us to do and what we needed to do in order to get a win.”
Katie Hempen made six of her eight three-point attempts and led all scorers with a career-high 22 points, but was the only player in double-figures for the Sun Devils (18-2, 7-1).
After a layup from Ali Gibson trimmed the ASU lead to one, 5-4, the Sun Devils countered with a 6-0 run to take an 11-4 lead with 15:33 left in the opening half. It would be the largest lead of the game for the Devils.
Promise Amukamara blocked a Deven Hunter layup, grabbed the rebound and took the ball all the way to the rim and scored to give ASU a 19-16 lead with 7:21 left in the first half. However the Beavers would respond, ending the half on an 11-3 run to take a 27-22 lead heading into halftime.
Neither team distinguished itself on the offensive end in the first half as the Sun Devils (37 percent) and Beavers (39 percent) were both below 40 percent from the floor.
The momentum that started to shift in the Beavers’ favor toward the end of the first half would carry over into the second half as they used an 18-3 run over the first 4:16 to go up 45-25. During the same stretch in which the Beavers went 7-of-8 from the floor the Sun Devils went 1-of-5.
“It was just a tough offensive day for us,” Turner Thorne said. “The one thing we didn’t want to do was go into this game and be tense. We talked about it, we knew it, but we just couldn’t do it.”
Each time the Sun Devils got the lead under 15, the Beavers would respond as ASU was not able to put together the kind of scoring run it needed to change the game.
The Sun Devils got within 11 after a pair of free throws by Kelsey Moos cut Oregon State’s lead to 60-49 with 2:49 remaining, however they could get no closer.
Up next for ASU is a road matchup against Colorado (9-10, 2-6) on Friday at 7 p.m. MT.