TEMPE, Ariz. – Two days after being named the John R. Wooden Pac-12 Coach of the Year in a vote of her fellow coaches, ASU head women's basketball coach Charli Turner Thorne was selected the Pac-12 Coach of the Year by media who cover the league, according to an announcement by the Pac-12 on Wednesday.
Also recognized by the media were junior forward Sophie Brunner, who was named to the media’s 15-member All-Conference Team and senior guard Elisha Davis, who was named to the media’s five-member All-Defensive Team. For Brunner, it represents the second consecutive year that she has been recognized by the media after earning the same honor last season.
This season Turner Thorne led the Sun Devils to their first Pac-12 regular season title since 2001. Along the way the team has had several remarkable accomplishments, including:
- Tying the school record for consecutive wins (15).
- Setting a new school record for most road wins (11).
- Tying the program’s highest AP Top 25 ranking in school history (No. 8).
- Setting a new program benchmark for best conference start (9-0), surpassing the previous standard of 7-0 set last season.
- Led or shared the top spot in the Pac-12 from start to finish in a season in which the conference was ranked No. 1 in the RPI for much of the year.
- Posted six wins over Top 25 teams, including No. 9 Stanford and No. 10 Florida State.
- Off the court, the team is coming off a year in which it had No. 7 cumulative GPA in the country.
Brunner has started all 24 games she has played in this season (missed six games earlier in the season due to injury) and currently leads the team in scoring (10.7 ppg), rebounds (7.4 rpg), FG pct (54.2) and steals (1.8 spg) and is third in assists (1.9 apg). A starter 81 of 92 career games, Brunner is ASU’s active leader in rebounds (655 - 6th on ASU’s all-time list - needs two to pass Jovonne Smith/1989-93 for 5th place and five to pass Kristen Kovesdy/2002-05 for 4th place) and steals (134) and No. 2 in points (923). Brunner, who has averaged 11 points and 11 rebounds while shooting 60 percent from the floor in ASU’s last five games, has posted four double-doubles this season. On Feb. 7, Brunner was responsible for the game-winning 3-point play in ASU’s 69-68 win over USC. Two weeks later (Feb. 21) Brunner scored the game-winner at the buzzer in ASU’s 63-61 overtime win at Stanford. Brunner’s seven steals vs. Arizona (Jan. 22) are tied for the most by a Pac-12 player this season.
Davis’ ability to be an outstanding facilitator and defender have been paramount components in ASU’s success this season. Davis has started every game this season and currently leads ASU in assists (4.9 apg/fourth in the Pac-12), is second in 3-pointers (31) and steals (1.5 spg) and fifth in rebounding (2.4 rpg). A starter in 69 of 129 career games (67 straight starts), Davis is currently No. 2 on ASU’s all-time list for career assists (466) and third on ASU’s all-time list for most career assists in the NCAA Tournament (22). Davis has dished out five or more assists 17 times this season, including a career-high-tying 11 vs. Marquette (Dec. 19). Davis, who has scored in double figures 12 times this season, has also had 15 games with two or fewer turnovers. She has also scored 10 or more points in the second half four times: at SMU (15), vs. Florida State (10), at Washington (10) and at Oregon (10).
Earlier this week the Sun Devils had a school record three players – Brunner, Davis and senior guard Katie Hempen – named to the Pac-12’s All-Conference Team as voted on by the league’s coaches. Davis was also named to the All-Defensive Team while Brunner earned All-Defensive honorable mention recognition. Also recognized by the coaches were junior forward Kelsey Moos (All-Defensive honorable mention) and freshman guard Sabrina Haines (All-Freshman honorable mention).
The Sun Devils (25-5, 16-2 Pac-12) will be the No. 2 seed in this week’s Pac-12 Tournament being played at KeyArena in Seattle. They will open play in the tournament on Friday (11:30 a.m. PT/12:30 p.m. MT) when they will face either Utah (No. 7 seed) or California (No. 10 seed) in the quarterfinal round. The game can be seen on Pac-12 Networks and heard on NBC Sports Radio AM 1060.