SEATTLE – The Arizona State women's basketball team closed Saturday's Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinal matchup with a 13-1 run to turn a six-point deficit into a six-point win as the Sun Devils upset No. 10 Oregon State, 57-51 to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2015.
Courtney Ekmark (game-high 18 points, 5-7 3-point FGs), Kianna Ibis (14 points, career-high 14 rebounds) and Robbi Ryan (12 points, 4-8 FGs/4-4 FTs) combined to score 44 of ASU's 57 points in the game, including 26 of the team's 31 points in the second half.
Reili Richardson, ASU's team leader in assists, added six more against the Beavers. Richardson had only one turnover in the game, one of only six committed by ASU.
The win snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Beavers, whose two regular season wins over ASU were by a combined seven points (57-54 in Corvallis on Jan. 12 and 64-60 last Sunday in Tempe).
"I'm just incredibly proud of our team," ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "We've obviously had a great season and we've had a lot of close games. But we've come up short quite a bit. Not only to Oregon State, but other top teams in our conference. We've also beaten some teams early in the conference season and we've played Mississippi State to one possession. So, now it's March Madness and you want to be playing your best basketball. To see this team come together today and dig deep, and close it out and take the game was really special. I'm very happy for them and really proud of them."
The Sun Devils came through with a virtuoso performance on the defensive end as they opened the game by allowing the Beavers to shoot only 30 percent in the first quarter (3-10). They would then close the game by letting the Beavers connect on only 13 percent of their shots (2-15) in the fourth quarter.
In its two regular season wins the Beavers had twice as many points in the paint as the Sun Devils (88-44). On Friday ASU flipped the script on the Beavers as it matched Oregon State's 18 points in the contest.
Marie Gulich, who averaged 28 points and made 83 percent of her shots (25-30) in Oregon State's two prior wins over ASU, was held to only six points on Friday. After scoring 30 of her career-high 36 points in the second half of Sunday's win, Gulich could manage only two points in the final 20 minutes of the quarterfinal matchup.
While it was a team effort keeping Oregon State's inside game under wraps, Turner Thorne said a lot of the credit went to junior center Charnea Johnson-Chapman.
"I thought Nea was unbelievable in her effort," Turner Thorne said. "It was tough. She picked up the two fouls in the first half. Obviously, it was a team effort on Gulich. We helped. We weren't going to let her beat us single-handedly again. But I thought Nea, it was just a phenomenal effort. We said the exact same thing as our coaching staff. You look at Nea's stats, and you wouldn't really appreciate how much she helped us beat Oregon State tonight. She also set a lot of great screens."
Friday's contest followed the script of the two regular season games: the Sun Devils would jump out to leads only to have the Beavers come back and grab the lead. Case in point…
Although it was at a snail's pace, the Beavers were starting to take control of the game. They scored the only points – four of them – the first six-plus minutes of the final period to take a six-point lead, 50-44.
Suddenly the Devils' offense came alive as a jumper by Ibis and a 3-pointer by Ekmark got ASU within a single point with less than three minutes left. Ibis would follow with two more jumpers to culminate a run of nine straight points that gave ASU a 53-50 lead with 68 seconds left.
The only resistance the Beavers could offer in the form of offense was single free throw over the last five-plus minutes of the game. During that span the Sun Devils were 4-6 from the floor while the Beavers were 0-10.
The Sun Devils hit four free throws in the final minute to seal the win.
"I would just say the sense of urgency," Ibis explained of ASU's 13-1 to close out the game. "Like we were coming down to the last quarter, and we knew we had to take it, so we just tried to stay as aggressive as we could, and just find, play to each other's strengths and find our teammates when we were open."
The Sun Devils will face Stanford in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. PT/9:30 p.m. MT. The game can be seen on Pac-12 Network/Arizona/Bay Area and can be heard on NBC Sports Radio AM 1060.
Courtney Ekmark (game-high 18 points, 5-7 3-point FGs), Kianna Ibis (14 points, career-high 14 rebounds) and Robbi Ryan (12 points, 4-8 FGs/4-4 FTs) combined to score 44 of ASU's 57 points in the game, including 26 of the team's 31 points in the second half.
Reili Richardson, ASU's team leader in assists, added six more against the Beavers. Richardson had only one turnover in the game, one of only six committed by ASU.
The win snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Beavers, whose two regular season wins over ASU were by a combined seven points (57-54 in Corvallis on Jan. 12 and 64-60 last Sunday in Tempe).
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"I'm just incredibly proud of our team," ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "We've obviously had a great season and we've had a lot of close games. But we've come up short quite a bit. Not only to Oregon State, but other top teams in our conference. We've also beaten some teams early in the conference season and we've played Mississippi State to one possession. So, now it's March Madness and you want to be playing your best basketball. To see this team come together today and dig deep, and close it out and take the game was really special. I'm very happy for them and really proud of them."
The Sun Devils came through with a virtuoso performance on the defensive end as they opened the game by allowing the Beavers to shoot only 30 percent in the first quarter (3-10). They would then close the game by letting the Beavers connect on only 13 percent of their shots (2-15) in the fourth quarter.
In its two regular season wins the Beavers had twice as many points in the paint as the Sun Devils (88-44). On Friday ASU flipped the script on the Beavers as it matched Oregon State's 18 points in the contest.
Marie Gulich, who averaged 28 points and made 83 percent of her shots (25-30) in Oregon State's two prior wins over ASU, was held to only six points on Friday. After scoring 30 of her career-high 36 points in the second half of Sunday's win, Gulich could manage only two points in the final 20 minutes of the quarterfinal matchup.
While it was a team effort keeping Oregon State's inside game under wraps, Turner Thorne said a lot of the credit went to junior center Charnea Johnson-Chapman.
"I thought Nea was unbelievable in her effort," Turner Thorne said. "It was tough. She picked up the two fouls in the first half. Obviously, it was a team effort on Gulich. We helped. We weren't going to let her beat us single-handedly again. But I thought Nea, it was just a phenomenal effort. We said the exact same thing as our coaching staff. You look at Nea's stats, and you wouldn't really appreciate how much she helped us beat Oregon State tonight. She also set a lot of great screens."
Friday's contest followed the script of the two regular season games: the Sun Devils would jump out to leads only to have the Beavers come back and grab the lead. Case in point…
- ASU started the game with a 12-4 lead. Oregon State responded with a 12-0 run to go up 16-12 three minutes into the second quarter.
- The Sun Devils would respond with an 18-5 run to take their largest lead of the game after Ryan's 3-pointer put the Sun Devils up 30-21 just over a minute into the third quarter. The Beavers responded with an 8-0 run to get within one and then would eventually take the lead with under three minutes left in the third quarter. Katie McWilliams' 3-pointer at the buzzer put the Beavers up 46-44 entering the final quarter.
Although it was at a snail's pace, the Beavers were starting to take control of the game. They scored the only points – four of them – the first six-plus minutes of the final period to take a six-point lead, 50-44.
Suddenly the Devils' offense came alive as a jumper by Ibis and a 3-pointer by Ekmark got ASU within a single point with less than three minutes left. Ibis would follow with two more jumpers to culminate a run of nine straight points that gave ASU a 53-50 lead with 68 seconds left.
The only resistance the Beavers could offer in the form of offense was single free throw over the last five-plus minutes of the game. During that span the Sun Devils were 4-6 from the floor while the Beavers were 0-10.
The Sun Devils hit four free throws in the final minute to seal the win.
"I would just say the sense of urgency," Ibis explained of ASU's 13-1 to close out the game. "Like we were coming down to the last quarter, and we knew we had to take it, so we just tried to stay as aggressive as we could, and just find, play to each other's strengths and find our teammates when we were open."
The Sun Devils will face Stanford in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. PT/9:30 p.m. MT. The game can be seen on Pac-12 Network/Arizona/Bay Area and can be heard on NBC Sports Radio AM 1060.