SEATTLE, Wash. – Sophie Brunner scored 12 of her team-high 14 points in the second half to help the ninth-ranked Arizona State women’s basketball team defeat Washington State 67-48 in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament presented by New York Life.
Quinn Dornstauder came off the bench to score 12 points and Promise Amukamara added 11 for the Sun Devils (27-4), who outscored the Cougars 48-32 in the second half to advance to the tournament semifinals for the seventh time since 2002. ASU will meet 19th-ranked Stanford on Saturday (6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT) in the first of two semifinal contests. The winner will advance to Sunday’s championship game.
ASU’s 27 wins are the second most in program history, trailing only the 31 wins collected by the 2006-07 squad.
Brunner (12 points/6-8 FGs), Dornstauder (10 points/2-3 FGs and 6-6 FTs) and Kelsey Moos (eight points/4-4 FGs) combined for 30 points while collectively shooting 80 percent over the final 20 minutes. The trio helped the Sun Devils put together one of their most efficient offensive halves of the season as ASU shot 71 percent from the floor (17-24) and 81 percent from the foul line (13-16).
The Cougars (17-14) were led by guards Tia Presley (16 points) and Lia Galdeira (12 points), who combined for 28 points.
ASU’s offensive performance in the second half was a 180-degree difference from the first half when it connected on only 27 percent of its field goal attempts.
“We've been a little slow starting lately offensively, and then we've been able to get it going in the second half this last week or so,” ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “I thought we did a great job in the second half just settling down, taking care of the ball, and kind of doing what we can do.”
Brunner scored the first two baskets of the second half to quickly extend ASU’s three-point halftime lead to seven. The Cougars would score six of the next eight points to once again get within three, 25-22, with 17:17 remaining. However ASU would not allow the Cougars to get any closer as they scored the next six points to go up 31-22. A 9-2 run later in the half increased ASU’s lead to 17, 44-27 with 11:50 remaining.
The Devils would eventually lead by as many as 19 as the Cougars were not able to get within single digits for the remainder of the game.
ASU’s defense was the story early on as the Cougars were held without a bucket for the first 7:48 of the game. Unfortunately for the Sun Devils, their offense was also finding it difficult to score. Despite the great defensive start, ASU led by only five points, 7-2, when the Cougars scored their first field goal with 12:12 remaining in the first half.
A 3-pointer by Galdeira capped a 10-4 run by the Cougars, bringing them within a single point, 11-10. The two teams would go back and forth over the last seven minutes of the half, as the Sun Devils would eventually take a 19-16 lead to the locker room.
Amukamara (nine points) was the only Sun Devil to score more than two points in the first half. She was she was 3-of-5 from the floor while the rest of the team was 5-of-24 (21.8 percent).
Brunner played only four minutes in the first half after picking up a pair of fouls.
ASU’s game against Stanford on Saturday will be its third meeting against the Cardinal this season. On January 19 at Stanford, the Sun Devils raced out to a 17-point halftime lead and then survived Stanford’s comeback bid that saw the Cardinal get within a point in ASU’s eventual 60-57 win. On Feb. 6 in Tempe, ASU used a 16-0 run in the second half to erase a 12-point deficit before holding off the Cardinal’s attempt to win the game in the final seconds in the Sun Devils’ 53-52 win, a game in which neither team scored the last 4:35 of the game.
Saturday’s game will take place at 6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT at KeyArena in Seattle. It can be seen on Pac-12 Networks and can be heard on NBC Sports Radio AM 1060 .
Pac-12 Networks will be offering free access Saturday's semifinal game broadcasts plus halftime and postgame coverage on Pac-12.com and our Pac-12 Now app. Click here for more information.