TEMPE, Ariz. – For the second time in three days, the Arizona State women's basketball team knocked off one of the nation's top five teams, defeating No. 3 Oregon State 55-47 on Sunday.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, the last time an NCAAW team defeated AP Top-5 teams in consecutive games was Notre Dame in the 2017-2018 NCAA Tournament (1 UConn, 4 Mississippi State). The last time it happened in the regular season was when Stanford defeated No. 4 Xavier on Dec. 28. 2010 and then No. 1 UConn on Dec. 30. An unranked team has not accomplished the feat in at least the last 20 seasons. ASU came into this week's action receiving votes in both of the major polls however has not been ranked since the second week of the season.
The Sun Devils (13-4, 3-2 Pac-12), who on Friday night outscored No. 2 Oregon 30-14 in the fourth quarter of their 72-66 upset, came through with another gem on the defensive end. After holding the Ducks and their top-ranked offense 23.5 points below their average in Friday's win, ASU kept the Beavers (15-1, 3-1) nearly 30 points below their scoring average of 76.5 points coming into the game.
Senior Ja'Tavia Tapley paced ASU in both points (14) and rebounds (6). Seniors Reili Richardson and Robbi Ryan added 10 points each for the Sun Devils, who forced the Beavers to shoot 31 percent for the game, including a paltry 10 percent from beyond the arc (2-20). Also coming through with big contributions were senior Jamie Ruden (scored nine points in the first half) and junior Jayde Van Hyfte, who added seven points.
Senior Kiara Russell, who was forced to miss Friday's game due to a foot injury, was a big factor on Sunday both in setting up ASU's offense against one of the nation's top defensive teams and with her outstanding defense and constant hustle for loose ball and rebounds.
The Sun Devils once again did an excellent job taking care of the basketball, committing only nine turnovers while forcing 15.
After leading by as many as 12 points early in the second half, the Sun Devils found themselves in a tie game (45-45) after Oregon State's Destiny Slocum drained a 3-pointer moments picking up a loose ball in the corner.
As they had all weekend, ASU's seniors came through in the clutch starting with a jumper by Ryan to put ASU back in front, 47-45, with 2:14 remaining. After a defensive stop, Tapley scored on a layup to extend ASU's lead to 49-45. With the Beavers' offense suddenly back in neutral – they missed six of their last seven shots after tying the game – they were forced to foul after each Sun Devil defensive rebound. That set the stage for Richardson who made all six of her free throw attempts in the final 37 seconds to close out the win.
The Beavers, who came into the game as one of nation's two remaining unbeaten teams, scored the first four points of the game, but would not score for the rest of the opening quarter as the Sun Devils reeled off the next 16 points, including the last 13 of the frame.
Early on it was Ruden, one of ASU's five seniors, who had the hot hand. Picking up where she left off on Friday – Ruden scored seven straight points late in Friday's win over Oregon – Ruden came out firing and scored seven of ASU's 13 first-quarter points. The four points allowed by the Sun Devils tied for the fewest points they've allowed in a quarter this season, matching the total they gave up in the second quarter of their win at New Mexico State last month.
It would end up being more than 11 minutes before the Beavers scored again. Mikayla Pivec's layup cut ASU's lead to 16-6 with 6:33 remaining in the second quarter. The two teams would remain on even terms for the rest of the half and the Sun Devils went to the locker room with a 24-14 lead. Ruden (nine points) and Tapley (eight points) combined for 17 of ASU's 24 first-half points.
The third quarter was OSU's best of the game as they scored 18 points, the most of either team in the game. Slocum, who tied Pivec with a team-high 13 points for OSU, scored eight points in the quarter. The Beavers shot 58 percent in the period, but only managed to cut ASU's lead to seven points, 39-32, going into the fourth quarter.
Sunday's game concluded a stretch in which the Sun Devils played four Top 25 teams – No. 18 Arizona, No. 10 UCLA (now No. 8), No. 2 Oregon and No. 3 Oregon State – in their first five conference games. ASU started the sequence with a 58-53 loss to Arizona (Dec. 30), which snapped ASU's season-best six-game winning streak. The Sun Devils followed that with a 68-66 loss at UCLA on Jan. 3. In both contests ASU was within two or fewer points in the final minute. ASU rebounded win a 63-54 win at USC last Sunday to pick up its first Pac-12 win.
Up next for the Sun Devils is a trip to the Pacific Northwest for games at Washington (Friday at 7 p.m. PT/8 p.m. MT) and at Washington State (Sunday at noon PT/1 p.m. MT). Both games can be seen on Pac-12 Networks and heard on KDUS AM 1060.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, the last time an NCAAW team defeated AP Top-5 teams in consecutive games was Notre Dame in the 2017-2018 NCAA Tournament (1 UConn, 4 Mississippi State). The last time it happened in the regular season was when Stanford defeated No. 4 Xavier on Dec. 28. 2010 and then No. 1 UConn on Dec. 30. An unranked team has not accomplished the feat in at least the last 20 seasons. ASU came into this week's action receiving votes in both of the major polls however has not been ranked since the second week of the season.
The Sun Devils (13-4, 3-2 Pac-12), who on Friday night outscored No. 2 Oregon 30-14 in the fourth quarter of their 72-66 upset, came through with another gem on the defensive end. After holding the Ducks and their top-ranked offense 23.5 points below their average in Friday's win, ASU kept the Beavers (15-1, 3-1) nearly 30 points below their scoring average of 76.5 points coming into the game.
Senior Ja'Tavia Tapley paced ASU in both points (14) and rebounds (6). Seniors Reili Richardson and Robbi Ryan added 10 points each for the Sun Devils, who forced the Beavers to shoot 31 percent for the game, including a paltry 10 percent from beyond the arc (2-20). Also coming through with big contributions were senior Jamie Ruden (scored nine points in the first half) and junior Jayde Van Hyfte, who added seven points.
Senior Kiara Russell, who was forced to miss Friday's game due to a foot injury, was a big factor on Sunday both in setting up ASU's offense against one of the nation's top defensive teams and with her outstanding defense and constant hustle for loose ball and rebounds.
The Sun Devils once again did an excellent job taking care of the basketball, committing only nine turnovers while forcing 15.
After leading by as many as 12 points early in the second half, the Sun Devils found themselves in a tie game (45-45) after Oregon State's Destiny Slocum drained a 3-pointer moments picking up a loose ball in the corner.
As they had all weekend, ASU's seniors came through in the clutch starting with a jumper by Ryan to put ASU back in front, 47-45, with 2:14 remaining. After a defensive stop, Tapley scored on a layup to extend ASU's lead to 49-45. With the Beavers' offense suddenly back in neutral – they missed six of their last seven shots after tying the game – they were forced to foul after each Sun Devil defensive rebound. That set the stage for Richardson who made all six of her free throw attempts in the final 37 seconds to close out the win.
The Beavers, who came into the game as one of nation's two remaining unbeaten teams, scored the first four points of the game, but would not score for the rest of the opening quarter as the Sun Devils reeled off the next 16 points, including the last 13 of the frame.
Early on it was Ruden, one of ASU's five seniors, who had the hot hand. Picking up where she left off on Friday – Ruden scored seven straight points late in Friday's win over Oregon – Ruden came out firing and scored seven of ASU's 13 first-quarter points. The four points allowed by the Sun Devils tied for the fewest points they've allowed in a quarter this season, matching the total they gave up in the second quarter of their win at New Mexico State last month.
It would end up being more than 11 minutes before the Beavers scored again. Mikayla Pivec's layup cut ASU's lead to 16-6 with 6:33 remaining in the second quarter. The two teams would remain on even terms for the rest of the half and the Sun Devils went to the locker room with a 24-14 lead. Ruden (nine points) and Tapley (eight points) combined for 17 of ASU's 24 first-half points.
The third quarter was OSU's best of the game as they scored 18 points, the most of either team in the game. Slocum, who tied Pivec with a team-high 13 points for OSU, scored eight points in the quarter. The Beavers shot 58 percent in the period, but only managed to cut ASU's lead to seven points, 39-32, going into the fourth quarter.
Sunday's game concluded a stretch in which the Sun Devils played four Top 25 teams – No. 18 Arizona, No. 10 UCLA (now No. 8), No. 2 Oregon and No. 3 Oregon State – in their first five conference games. ASU started the sequence with a 58-53 loss to Arizona (Dec. 30), which snapped ASU's season-best six-game winning streak. The Sun Devils followed that with a 68-66 loss at UCLA on Jan. 3. In both contests ASU was within two or fewer points in the final minute. ASU rebounded win a 63-54 win at USC last Sunday to pick up its first Pac-12 win.
Up next for the Sun Devils is a trip to the Pacific Northwest for games at Washington (Friday at 7 p.m. PT/8 p.m. MT) and at Washington State (Sunday at noon PT/1 p.m. MT). Both games can be seen on Pac-12 Networks and heard on KDUS AM 1060.