TEMPE, Ariz. – Quinn Dornstauder scored a career-high 22 points as the No. 10 Arizona State women’s basketball team used a big second-half rally to defeat No. 12 Stanford 53-52 on Friday night.
Kelsey Moos added 12 points and seven rebounds for the Sun Devils (21-2, 10-1 Pac-12), who overcame a 12-point deficit to defeat Stanford (17-6, 9-2) for the second time this season. A conference opponent had not previously swept Stanford since the 1987-88 season.
Coupled with No. 7 Oregon State's loss to Washington, the Sun Devils are now tied with the Beavers (20-2, 10-1) for first place in the Pac-12.
“That’s a great team that we just beat,” head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “It was a great team win.
“How about Quinn (Dornstauder)? She just continues to build confidence. She is a worker and she has a scoring mentality, which I love.”
Sophie Brunner grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and blocked one shot for the Sun Devils, who on Friday started a three-game stretch against the other three teams occupying the top four spots in the conference (vs. Stanford, vs. Cal, at Oregon State).
Amber Orrange finished with 15 points and three assists to lead the Cardinal, who shot just 8-25 (32 percent) in the second half.
Leading by as many as 12 early in the second half, Stanford found itself trailing 53-47 after a jumper by Dornstauder with 5:38 remaining. The Cardinal would respond with five straight points capped off by a 3-pointer by Lili Thompson that cut ASU’s lead to 53-52 with 4:35 remaining.
Thompson’s three would turn out to be the final points scored in the contest.
After Dornstauder got her hand on Orrange’s step-back jumper with just over a minute left the Sun Devils had the ball with a chance to build on their lead, but Katie Hempen’s pass toward Promise Amukamara was deflected and ended up resulting in an over-and-back violation that gave Stanford possession with 20.6 seconds remaining.
After nearly losing the ball twice Stanford was able to call timeout with 5.1 seconds left. The Cardinal inbounded the ball to Briana Roberson, but her jumper from just inside the three-point line bounced off the rim.
“We said at 53-52 ‘Hey, we are up and we are taking this game,’” Turner Thorne said. “We have a lot of toughness and pride in our defense and it came through tonight.”
ASU, which held on to beat Stanford 60-57 last month in the Bay Area, improved to 5-0 this season in games decided by five points or less.
Unfortunately for the Sun Devils, no one except for Dornstauder seemed to be able to put the ball in the basket in the first half. The sophomore center scored 15 points on 7-9 shooting while the rest of the team combined to shoot just 3-21 (14 percent) as Stanford climbed out to a 31-22 halftime lead.
ASU got within five points less than two minutes into the second half, but the Cardinal would bounce back with 9-2 run to take their largest lead of the game, 42-30, with 15:08 remaining.
It would be nearly eight minutes before Stanford scored again as the Sun Devils methodically fought their way back into the game.
ASU started the run with four free throws over the span of just over two minutes. The pace of the comeback would go from gradual to swift as consecutive 3-pointers by Hempen and Moos followed by a jumper from Moos tied the game at 42-42 with just under 10 minutes left.
But the run wasn’t over. Moos hit two free throws and Promise Amukamara hit a floater in the lane to culminate the 16-0 run and give ASU a 46-42 lead.
Bonnie Samuelson’s 3-pointer, Stanford’s first score in 7:48 of game time, brought Stanford back within a point. Dornstauder answered with a jumper to put ASU back up by three. The back-and-forth scoring would continue as Orrange hit two free throws, but Elisha Davis would answer right back with a 3-pointer that gave ASU a 51-47 lead with 6:20 remaining.
Up next for ASU is a matchup with Cal (17-5, 9-2) on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU and can be heard live on NBC Sports Radio AM 1060.
Sunday’s game vs. Cal will be the Sun Devil women’s basketball program’s annual Pink game for Breast Cancer Awareness. Fans are encouraged to wear pink to the game. Beginning at 1 p.m., fans will have the opportunity to participate in a silent auction and bid on the pink jerseys that the players will wear during the game In addition, the Sun Devil Spirit Squad will be hosting its annual free clinic for all youth 12 and under. The clinic will take place from 1-1:30 p.m. Clinic participants will get to perform with the Spirit Squad at halftime of the game.