TEMPE -- The No. 21/19 Arizona State women's basketball team closed out the non-conference portion of its schedule on Wednesday night, cruising to a 63-33 victory over visiting Holy Cross.
Three Sun Devils scored in double-figures led by senior forward Sophie Brunner, who notched her eighth double-digit scoring game of the season, posting a game-high 14 points while adding six rebounds. Sophomore forward Kianna Ibis notched an impressive 12-point, six-rebound outing off the bench, matching her season-high output on the boards and freshman guard Robbi Ryan also impressed coming off the bench to add 10 points (4-6 FGs). Freshman guard Reili Richardson just missed a double-figure scoring total as she had eight points to go with six assists and only one turnover.
After facing an 11-8 deficit after the first quarter, the Sun Devils outscored the Crusaders (2-9) 55-22 the remainder of the contest.
"I thought for our last game before Pac-12 starts that, in a lot of ways, this was a great game for us because we only allowed them to score 22 points after the first quarter," ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "The big thing that separates us is our defense. The two games before this, we scored really well, the games were really easy and when we work as hard as we do defensively and we score well, life is easy. But, we're going to have days where we don't have a good offensive day so, in that sense, this was a really good game to finish with.
"I thought it was a good defensive effort. We have been really trying to take away layups and protect our paint. The first quarter wasn't great but after that we really switched out and protected our paint. We controlled the boards after the first quarter and did everything we wanted to do."
Ibis (seven points) and Brunner (six points) combined for 13 of ASU's 19 points in the second quarter as the Sun Devils outscored Holy Cross 19-4 on their way to a 27-15 lead at the break. The 15 points scored by the Crusaders represented the fewest given up by ASU in the first half this season.
The Sun Devils connected on 57 percent of their shots in the third quarter as Ryan (2-2 FGs, five points), Ibis (2-3 FGs, five points), Brunner (2-2 FGs, four points) and Quinn Dornstauder (2-2 FGs, four points) combined for 18 points and shot a collective 89 percent (8-9) from the floor.
Dornstauder had three blocks vs. Holy Cross and is now in sole possession of third place on ASU's all-time list with 102 career blocks.
Winners of their last seven games, the Sun Devils are now 40-7 in non-conference play spanning the past four seasons, the highest four-season, non-conference win total in program history.
Up next, the Sun Devils open conference play, hosting No. 14 Stanford on Friday, Dec. 30 at 4 p.m. MT at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. Click here to purchase tickets.
Three Sun Devils scored in double-figures led by senior forward Sophie Brunner, who notched her eighth double-digit scoring game of the season, posting a game-high 14 points while adding six rebounds. Sophomore forward Kianna Ibis notched an impressive 12-point, six-rebound outing off the bench, matching her season-high output on the boards and freshman guard Robbi Ryan also impressed coming off the bench to add 10 points (4-6 FGs). Freshman guard Reili Richardson just missed a double-figure scoring total as she had eight points to go with six assists and only one turnover.
After facing an 11-8 deficit after the first quarter, the Sun Devils outscored the Crusaders (2-9) 55-22 the remainder of the contest.
"I thought for our last game before Pac-12 starts that, in a lot of ways, this was a great game for us because we only allowed them to score 22 points after the first quarter," ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "The big thing that separates us is our defense. The two games before this, we scored really well, the games were really easy and when we work as hard as we do defensively and we score well, life is easy. But, we're going to have days where we don't have a good offensive day so, in that sense, this was a really good game to finish with.
"I thought it was a good defensive effort. We have been really trying to take away layups and protect our paint. The first quarter wasn't great but after that we really switched out and protected our paint. We controlled the boards after the first quarter and did everything we wanted to do."
Ibis (seven points) and Brunner (six points) combined for 13 of ASU's 19 points in the second quarter as the Sun Devils outscored Holy Cross 19-4 on their way to a 27-15 lead at the break. The 15 points scored by the Crusaders represented the fewest given up by ASU in the first half this season.
The Sun Devils connected on 57 percent of their shots in the third quarter as Ryan (2-2 FGs, five points), Ibis (2-3 FGs, five points), Brunner (2-2 FGs, four points) and Quinn Dornstauder (2-2 FGs, four points) combined for 18 points and shot a collective 89 percent (8-9) from the floor.
Dornstauder had three blocks vs. Holy Cross and is now in sole possession of third place on ASU's all-time list with 102 career blocks.
Winners of their last seven games, the Sun Devils are now 40-7 in non-conference play spanning the past four seasons, the highest four-season, non-conference win total in program history.
Up next, the Sun Devils open conference play, hosting No. 14 Stanford on Friday, Dec. 30 at 4 p.m. MT at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. Click here to purchase tickets.