Defense delivers in WBB’s win over Little Rock

TEMPE – The Sun Devil Women’s Basketball team (7-0) came through with another defensive gem on Friday, allowing the fewest points (14) in a half in nearly four years in a 59-41 win over Little Rock (1-4). How rare was Little Rock's final point total for an opposing team? Going back to the 2019-20 season, ASU has given up fewer than 41 points only four times in 178 games.

In Friday’s win, the Sun Devils recorded new opponent lows this season for points (41), points in a half (14), points in a quarter (5), field goals made (13), field goal percentage (27.1) and 3-point field goal percentage (17.9).

Super start
With seven wins in seven games, Molly Miller’s first ASU squad is approaching the best start in program history. Only the 1990-91 (8-0) and 1991-92 (9-0) teams – both coached by current Sun Devil WBB radio analyst Maura McHugh – opened their respective campaigns with more consecutive wins.

Sun Devil standouts

• Amaya Williams had career highs in points (18) and field goals (eight) to go with four rebounds, three assists and two steals. For Williams, it was her third double-figure scoring effort of the season and her second in as many games after scoring 10 points in Tuesday’s win over Utah Tech.
• McKinna Brackens scored in double figures for the sixth time in seven games and the fifth game in a row. Brackens, who came into Friday’s game with three straight double-doubles, led ASU in rebounds (six) for the third game in a row.
• Marley Washenitz scored seven of her nine points in the second quarter to help the Sun Devils to a 23-point second quarter, the most points scored by either team in a quarter. Combined with Williams’ 10 points, the two were responsible for 17 of those 23 points. Washenitz also led the team in steals (three) and tied for the team lead (Williams and Last-Tear Poa) in assists (three).
• Five Sun Devils had four or more rebounds: Brackens (six), Heloisa Carrera (five), Williams (four), Poa (four) and Gabby Elliott (four).

How it happened

• After the two teams combined for 19 points in the first quarter (10-9 ASU), the Sun Devils came alive on both ends of the floor in the second quarter, outscoring the Trojans 23-5. The last time ASU allowed an opponent to score only five points in a quarter was on Nov. 19, 2023, when ASU jumped out to an 18-5 lead on Idaho State in the opening frame.
• The Sun Devils started the second quarter by scoring 15 straight points to stretch their lead from a single point to 25-9 after Washenitz’s layup less than four minutes into the period. At that point, ASU had missed only one of 10 shots going back to the last 2:21 of the first quarter.
• ASU shot 69 percent (9-13) in the second quarter, making the same number of field goals during those 10 minutes as Little Rock had in the first three quarters combined.
• Brackens opened the second half with a pair of layups to give ASU its biggest lead of the game, 37-14, less than a minute into the third quarter.

Notes

• Only one ASU opponent (Santa Clara, 77 points) has scored more than 58 points vs. ASU this season.
• The last time an opponent scored 14 or fewer points in a half vs. ASU was on Dec. 4, 2021, when UTSA scored only 13 points (first half).
• The Sun Devils have scored 20 or more points in a quarter 11 times this season. Four of those 11 times have come in the second quarter of the last four games (23.5 average).
• ASU has held the opposition to 13 (52.0 ppg average) or fewer points in a quarter 14 times (10x in first half) this season, including single digits six times (4x in first half).
• In the last two games, ASU’s opponents Utah Tech (5-28) and Little Rock (5-17) made only 22 percent (10-45) of their 3-point FG attempts.

Up next

ASU will be in action for the second straight day when it hosts Southeast Missouri on Saturday (6:30 p.m. MST) at Desert Financial Arena. Click here to purchase tickets. ASU’s contest will be preceded by Little Rock facing San Diego at 4 p.m. MST.

Postgame quotes

Head Coach Molly Miller
On Amaya Williams’ breakout performance
“She’s looking like a true point guard out there. What’s great about her is her tempo. She doesn’t have to go a million miles all the time. When we talk about pace, she understands stop and go, and she’s good about setting her teammates up and being steady. She doesn’t get too sped up, which, for a freshman, is impressive.”

On how the bench scored 28 points vs. Little Rock
“I’m not going to make any excuses for why we didn’t come out and play hard. I don’t care who we’re playing, what time it is, or if you woke up on the wrong side of the bed. When you come here, there’s a mentality. I want to complement our bench, specifically, (Amaya Williams and Deborah Davenport). I thought they came off the bench and gave us that shot in the arm that we needed, that spark, that energy, and that brand that I want to see consistently through 40 minutes ... .Yeah, 28 points off the bench compared to their 11. That was something. I challenged our bench because we didn’t have a lot of bench points coming off the UNLV game. I said, ‘When our bench comes in, we shouldn’t go down or stay the same. We should get a burst because of your energy; you’re fresh. Make offense happen from your defense by getting into the passing lanes.’ We saw (Davenport) do that a couple of times. That confidence will help increase our intensity and our pace. I hope teams are like ‘oh here comes the second string, they’re fresh!’” 

On holding Little Rock to 14 points in the first half
“Playing hard every possession, making entries difficult, when they dribble penetrate, they should have nowhere to go. We’ve called it “Nowhere to go November.” If there’s dribble penetration, they should run into a wall. There should be three white jerseys there, spreading out rotations. It’s that extra effort, and then we’ve got to finish it with a rebound.” 

Freshman guard Amaya Williams
On coming off the bench to score 18 points in the game
“It feels really good. I feel really confident right now. I’ve always been putting a lot of confidence in myself, so I’m just trying to play my game.” 

On whether the coaching staff pushes her to be better in practice
“All the time in practice. (HC) Molly (Miller), Coach (Stephanie) Norman, (Jason) Glover … they’re all telling me to look for my shot more, so I become more of a threat on the court. I’m just putting that emphasis right now.”

On what it’s like to have this amount of success during games
“It’s all a surprise, but practices have been good for me so far. I was looking forward to playing in the games, but having this opportunity is really nice. I’m really grateful for it.”