BOULDER, Colo. – Sophia Elenga scored a career-high 17 points, Jamie Ruden had 16 and Courtney Ekmark added 13 to help lead the Arizona State women's basketball team to a 72-47 win over Colorado on Friday in the Pac-12 opener for both teams.
The Sun Devils (10-3, 1-0 Pac-12) came through with another brilliant defensive effort in holding Colorado (9-3, 0-1) 33 points below its scoring average coming into the game.
Equally, if not more impressive, was the job ASU did on the boards as it ended the night plus-10 (45-35) against a Colorado squad that was ranked 13th in the nation in rebounding margin (+11.2).
Friday night's win was the 450th of head coach Charli Turner Thorne's career. Turner Thorne, who has accumulated 410 of those wins at ASU, is in her 21st season at ASU (24th of her career) and is No. 2 all-time in wins among Pac-12 coaches.
Although they had 15 turnovers (12 in the first half), the Sun Devils were able to limit Colorado's ability to turn the miscues into points as the Buffaloes scored only six points off their turnovers. ASU would fare much better in that area as it was able to cash Colorado's 19 turnovers into 23 points (ASU came in averaging 20.8 ppg off turnovers).
Reili Richardson (six assists) and Kiara Russell (five assists) combined for 11 of ASU's 19 assists in the game. Richardson also tied Elenga for the team lead in rebounds with a career-high-matching seven boards. Right behind them were Ekmark and Kianna Ibis, who had six rebounds each.
Ruden, who notched her ninth double-figure scoring effort and seventh in eight games, came off the bench and immediately provided the Sun Devils with a spark as she scored five straight points during what eventually became an 18-3 scoring run over the last 6:16 of the first quarter.
Ruden (five points) and Russell (four points) combined for nine of ASU's 16 points in the second quarter as the Sun Devils continued to build on the 14-point lead they had after the first quarter.
The Sun Devils did not allow the Buffaloes to find any kind of rhythm as they hounded and harried Colorado's shooters. For the second time in as many games ASU held the opposition to only 14 first-half points as the Buffaloes made only 20 percent of their shots in the first 20 minutes and went to the locker room trailing ASU 37-14.
Elenga led the way in the third quarter as she made all four of her field goal attempts and went 3-4 from the line to account for 11 of ASU's 25 points in the frame.
Ekmark's layup with a minute left in the third quarter gave ASU its largest lead of the game, 62-27.
The Buffaloes would outscore the Sun Devils 20-10 in the final quarter to get within 25 at the horn.
The Sun Devils close out their first Pac-12 road trip of the season on Sunday (noon MT) when they play at Utah. The game can be seen via live stream at http://pac-12.com/live/university-utah and heard on the Sun Devil Athletics TuneIn Channel.
The Sun Devils (10-3, 1-0 Pac-12) came through with another brilliant defensive effort in holding Colorado (9-3, 0-1) 33 points below its scoring average coming into the game.
Equally, if not more impressive, was the job ASU did on the boards as it ended the night plus-10 (45-35) against a Colorado squad that was ranked 13th in the nation in rebounding margin (+11.2).
Friday night's win was the 450th of head coach Charli Turner Thorne's career. Turner Thorne, who has accumulated 410 of those wins at ASU, is in her 21st season at ASU (24th of her career) and is No. 2 all-time in wins among Pac-12 coaches.
Congrats to @ASUCoachCharli on career win No. 450 tonight! pic.twitter.com/ZoD1aZytLq
— Sun Devil WBB (@SunDevilWBB) December 30, 2017
Although they had 15 turnovers (12 in the first half), the Sun Devils were able to limit Colorado's ability to turn the miscues into points as the Buffaloes scored only six points off their turnovers. ASU would fare much better in that area as it was able to cash Colorado's 19 turnovers into 23 points (ASU came in averaging 20.8 ppg off turnovers).
Reili Richardson (six assists) and Kiara Russell (five assists) combined for 11 of ASU's 19 assists in the game. Richardson also tied Elenga for the team lead in rebounds with a career-high-matching seven boards. Right behind them were Ekmark and Kianna Ibis, who had six rebounds each.
Ruden, who notched her ninth double-figure scoring effort and seventh in eight games, came off the bench and immediately provided the Sun Devils with a spark as she scored five straight points during what eventually became an 18-3 scoring run over the last 6:16 of the first quarter.
Ruden (five points) and Russell (four points) combined for nine of ASU's 16 points in the second quarter as the Sun Devils continued to build on the 14-point lead they had after the first quarter.
The Sun Devils did not allow the Buffaloes to find any kind of rhythm as they hounded and harried Colorado's shooters. For the second time in as many games ASU held the opposition to only 14 first-half points as the Buffaloes made only 20 percent of their shots in the first 20 minutes and went to the locker room trailing ASU 37-14.
Elenga led the way in the third quarter as she made all four of her field goal attempts and went 3-4 from the line to account for 11 of ASU's 25 points in the frame.
Ekmark's layup with a minute left in the third quarter gave ASU its largest lead of the game, 62-27.
The Buffaloes would outscore the Sun Devils 20-10 in the final quarter to get within 25 at the horn.
The Sun Devils close out their first Pac-12 road trip of the season on Sunday (noon MT) when they play at Utah. The game can be seen via live stream at http://pac-12.com/live/university-utah and heard on the Sun Devil Athletics TuneIn Channel.