COLUMBIA, S.C. – Quinn Dornstauder made all six of her field goal attempts and all four of her free throw attempts on her way to a team-high 16 points as the Arizona State women's basketball team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 73-61 win over Michigan State on Friday night.
Sabrina Haines (15 points) and Reili Richardson (13 points) also posted double-figure scoring totals for the Sun Devils (20-12/No. 8 seed in the Stockton Region), who following the game celebrated the 400th win of head coach Charli Turner Thorne's tenure at ASU.
"I'm really proud of our team," said Turner Thorne, who has 440 combined coaching wins with the 40 she accumulated while at Northern Arizona for three seasons prior to taking over the reins at ASU. "I thought we really put it together today. This is the first time we've been fully healthy since November. We've got a young team, and all the things that they knew that they could do, I thought they did a great job of on both sides of the floor, really locking Michigan State down, a great offensive team.
"Also, just a really balanced scoring attack with everyone being aggressive. Michigan State is hard when you watch them on film to know how good they are. The advantage for us with our defense is when people haven't seen us play before, and I thought if we had played them a second time, they would have adjusted because Suzy Merchant is an amazing coach. But I think it is hard to play against us when you don't know how we play. (Michigan State) didn't give up, they played to the final buzzer, and they made a great run at the end so give them a ton of credit, and I know Suzy does a great job. But, I'm really proud of this team and in particular, these three young ladies [Quinn Dornstauder, Reili Richardson, and Sabrina Haines]."
Dornstauder (6-6 FGs), Richardson (5-9 FGs) and Haines (5-10 FGs), combined to shoot 64 percent in the game.
Nine of the 11 players who got into the game on Friday scored and all but one player (Sabrina Haines – 30 minutes) played less than 30 minutes.
The Sun Devils shot 49 percent as a team, including 44 percent (8-18) from downtown. Haines led the way with three triples while Richardson added a pair.
While ASU's performance on the offensive end was a major factor in the win, its was the Sun Devils' ability to put the clamps on the Spartans' offense (MSU came in averaging 73.3 ppg) that made the biggest difference in the game.
The Sun Devils led 24-10 after one quarter, 42-20 at the half and 58-35 after 30 minutes.
The centerpiece of the team's defensive dominance was not letting Michigan State's Tori Jankoska, who came into the game ranked 10th in the nation in scoring (22.5 ppg), use her outstanding offensive abilities to get the Spartans off to a strong start. Jankoska would end up scoring a game-high 26 points, but all but two of those points came in the final 20 minutes as the Spartans were down by double digits the entire second half.
"We in the Pac-12 have some unbelievable scorers, in (Washington's) Kelsey Plum, (UCLA's) Jordin Canada and (Oregon State's) Sydney Wiese, and on and on," Turner Thorne explained of the multitude of individual offensive talents her team has faced throughout the conference season. "Honestly, we have fallen short of doing the job we normally have done when we've had more experience. This was a really fun challenge for Sabrina [Haines] and Robbi [Ryan]. Robbi, unfortunately, got into pretty big foul trouble, so I really think Sabrina carried a huge load today in guarding (Janoska). We just tried to make her work for every touch. We were prepared for everything they were going to run. We followed through well, took away her space, hedged hard on the ball screens. She got going a little bit in the second half, but I guess if you can hold her for one half that's pretty good."
ASU's defensive pressure helped set up several opportunities for its offense as it scored 22 points off the Spartans' 17 turnovers. The Sun Devils, who outrebounded Michigan State 31-25, were also opportunistic on the boards as they had 12-3 advantage in second-chance points.
In contrast to the Spartans' inability to take care of the basketball, the Sun Devils were able to avoid constant turnovers thanks to outstanding ball movement that resulted in a season-high-tying 21 assists. Leading the way was Kiara Russell, who had a career-high six assists.
The Sun Devils are currently in the midst of their four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. Friday's win represented the 10th time in their last 11 NCAA trips that they posted at least one win.
The Sun Devils will compete for a berth in next week's Sweet 16 when they take on No. 3/4 and top seed South Carolina on Sunday (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT) at Colonial Life Arena.
Sabrina Haines (15 points) and Reili Richardson (13 points) also posted double-figure scoring totals for the Sun Devils (20-12/No. 8 seed in the Stockton Region), who following the game celebrated the 400th win of head coach Charli Turner Thorne's tenure at ASU.
"I'm really proud of our team," said Turner Thorne, who has 440 combined coaching wins with the 40 she accumulated while at Northern Arizona for three seasons prior to taking over the reins at ASU. "I thought we really put it together today. This is the first time we've been fully healthy since November. We've got a young team, and all the things that they knew that they could do, I thought they did a great job of on both sides of the floor, really locking Michigan State down, a great offensive team.
"Also, just a really balanced scoring attack with everyone being aggressive. Michigan State is hard when you watch them on film to know how good they are. The advantage for us with our defense is when people haven't seen us play before, and I thought if we had played them a second time, they would have adjusted because Suzy Merchant is an amazing coach. But I think it is hard to play against us when you don't know how we play. (Michigan State) didn't give up, they played to the final buzzer, and they made a great run at the end so give them a ton of credit, and I know Suzy does a great job. But, I'm really proud of this team and in particular, these three young ladies [Quinn Dornstauder, Reili Richardson, and Sabrina Haines]."
Dornstauder (6-6 FGs), Richardson (5-9 FGs) and Haines (5-10 FGs), combined to shoot 64 percent in the game.
Nine of the 11 players who got into the game on Friday scored and all but one player (Sabrina Haines – 30 minutes) played less than 30 minutes.
The Sun Devils shot 49 percent as a team, including 44 percent (8-18) from downtown. Haines led the way with three triples while Richardson added a pair.
While ASU's performance on the offensive end was a major factor in the win, its was the Sun Devils' ability to put the clamps on the Spartans' offense (MSU came in averaging 73.3 ppg) that made the biggest difference in the game.
The Sun Devils led 24-10 after one quarter, 42-20 at the half and 58-35 after 30 minutes.
The centerpiece of the team's defensive dominance was not letting Michigan State's Tori Jankoska, who came into the game ranked 10th in the nation in scoring (22.5 ppg), use her outstanding offensive abilities to get the Spartans off to a strong start. Jankoska would end up scoring a game-high 26 points, but all but two of those points came in the final 20 minutes as the Spartans were down by double digits the entire second half.
"We in the Pac-12 have some unbelievable scorers, in (Washington's) Kelsey Plum, (UCLA's) Jordin Canada and (Oregon State's) Sydney Wiese, and on and on," Turner Thorne explained of the multitude of individual offensive talents her team has faced throughout the conference season. "Honestly, we have fallen short of doing the job we normally have done when we've had more experience. This was a really fun challenge for Sabrina [Haines] and Robbi [Ryan]. Robbi, unfortunately, got into pretty big foul trouble, so I really think Sabrina carried a huge load today in guarding (Janoska). We just tried to make her work for every touch. We were prepared for everything they were going to run. We followed through well, took away her space, hedged hard on the ball screens. She got going a little bit in the second half, but I guess if you can hold her for one half that's pretty good."
ASU's defensive pressure helped set up several opportunities for its offense as it scored 22 points off the Spartans' 17 turnovers. The Sun Devils, who outrebounded Michigan State 31-25, were also opportunistic on the boards as they had 12-3 advantage in second-chance points.
In contrast to the Spartans' inability to take care of the basketball, the Sun Devils were able to avoid constant turnovers thanks to outstanding ball movement that resulted in a season-high-tying 21 assists. Leading the way was Kiara Russell, who had a career-high six assists.
The Sun Devils are currently in the midst of their four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. Friday's win represented the 10th time in their last 11 NCAA trips that they posted at least one win.
The Sun Devils will compete for a berth in next week's Sweet 16 when they take on No. 3/4 and top seed South Carolina on Sunday (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT) at Colonial Life Arena.