TEMPE, Ariz. – Behind a balanced scoring attack, stout defense and outstanding first half effort, the No. 22 Arizona State women’s basketball team defeated the visiting Washington Huskies 62-48 on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena.
The Sun Devils were led by Promise Amukamara, who finished with 14 points and three steals, and Sophie Brunner, who had 14 points, five rebounds and four steals.
The Huskies were led by sophomore guard Kelsey Plum, who finished with 17 points. Plum came into the game averaging nearly 27 points per contest, good for first in the country.
The Sun Devils (12-1, 1-0 Pac-12) held Washington (11-1, 0-1) 35 points below its scoring average in snapping the Huskies’ 11-game winning streak while extending their current winning streak to eight games.
“I thought we did a great job of executing our defensive game plan,” head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “We worked really hard to take away their threes and we worked really hard to not foul them and move our feet.”
After a short jumper by Plum with 12:55 left in the first half trimmed the ASU lead to three, the Sun Devils countered with a game-changing 23-2 run to end the half and went into halftime with a 37-13 lead. The 13 first half points were the fewest that Washington has scored all season and the fewest points ASU has given up in a half this season. It was also the 11th time the Sun Devils have held the opposition to 25 or fewer points in a half.
ASU dominated nearly every defensive category in the first half, holding Washington to 30 percent shooting while forcing 16 Husky turnovers. Washington finished with 24 turnovers Saturday, while ASU had only 12. The Sun Devils scored 25 points off of Washington’s turnovers.
“We helped early and aggressively,” Turner Thorne said. “We didn’t let them isolate us 1-on-1 the way they’re so good at doing, and I thought we just really worked them hard defensively.”
The Sun Devils shot 15-37 (41 percent) and finished with 10 assists in the first half. ASU also took excellent care of the basketball in the first 20 minutes of action, turning the ball over only five times.
Brunner (10 points, 5-7 FGs) and Amukamara (9 points, 3-5 FGs) combined for 19 of ASU’s points in the first half.
Plum was able to get going in the second half, scoring 13 of her 17 points in the final 20 minutes, but Washington was not able to overcome the lead built by ASU in the first half.
Katie Hempen and Elisha Davis both scored six points while Amukamara added five to help lead ASU’s offense in the second half.
ASU had a slight 36-34 edge in rebounds, but was dominant on the offensive glass where it had a 15-5 advantage. Kelsey Moos and Quinn Dornstauder both tied for the team lead with seven rebounds.
The Sun Devils resume action Monday, when they take on Washington State (10-2, 1-0) at Wells Fargo Arena at 8 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks and can be heard on NBC Sports AM 1060.
GAME NOTES
Washington came into Saturday averaging 83.2 points per game, the highest scoring average in the Pac-12 and the ninth highest scoring average in the country. The 48 points scored by the Huskies against ASU was a season low. The previous low for Washington came against San Diego State in a 69-48 victory.
In addition to holding Plum to nearly 10 points below her average, the Sun Devils also held Jazmine Davis (15.1 PPG) and Talia Walton (13.1 PPG) to nine and six points respectively.
ASU assisted on 16 of their 23 field goals, while Washington assisted on only four of its 19 made field goals.
Both Kelsey Moos and Sophie Brunner set a career high with four steals on Saturday. As a team, the Sun Devils had a season-high 15 steals.