KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Sun Devil women’s basketball team (24-10, No. 10 seed) had its run at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tournament come to an end following its 67-54 loss to West Virginia (25-6, No. 2 seed, No. 15 team in the nation) in Friday night’s quarterfinal round.
Senior Marley Washenitz led the Sun Devils in scoring with 14 points. Washenitz hit four of ASU’s five 3-pointers to match her career high, accomplished two other times.
Heloisa Carrera scored 10 points, the sixth straight game she notched double digits in scoring. Gabby Elliott (nine points) and McKinna Brackens (eight points) combined for 17 points and Jyah LoVett came off the bench to provide the Sun Devils with seven points.
Last-Tear Poa, who led ASU with a career-high nine rebounds in Thursday’s win over Iowa State, once again paced ASU with eight rebounds against West Virginia.
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ASU exceeded its season average in shooting percentage in the first half, making 44 percent of its attempts, including half of its 3-pointers (3-6).
West Virginia not only had an excellent first half shooting – it shot 58 percent and made three more 3-pointers than ASU – it was also the beneficiary of 14 Sun Devil turnovers which it converted into 24 points.
Trailing 17-11 in the first quarter, the Mountaineers made the first of two scoring runs that would prove critical in the game’s outcome as they scored 23 of the game’s next 27 points to take a 34-21 lead four minutes into the second quarter. ASU was able to shave four points off West Virginia’s lead by the half and went to the locker room trailing 39-30.
Down 43-34 in the third quarter, Brackens hit a pair of free throws that began a run of six straight points scored by the Sun Devils after a jumper by LoVett and another jumper by Brackens made it a one-possession game, 43-40.
The Mountaineers answered with a 9-2 run to close out the third quarter and carried a 52-42 lead into the final frame.
One night earlier the Sun Devils were celebrating not only their win over a foe that got the better of them 15 days earlier, more importantly, it took another step toward the ultimate goal of all 16 teams competing in the tournament: to play another day and give itself the chance to eventually be the last team standing and be crowned Big 12 Tournament champions.
Although they were playing for the third time in three nights – and doing it against increasingly more difficult competition each night – and while the ebb and flow of the game may have signaled otherwise, the Sun Devils refused to quit fighting.
Like it did one night earlier against Iowa State, ASU once again attempted to flip the script on a team it incurred a difficult loss to during the regular season. Unlike in its loss to Iowa State last month, the Sun Devils were trying to get a win against a West Virginia squad it believed it was on the verge of upsetting on its home floor in January.
In less than two minutes of game time, the Sun Devils chopped West Virginia’s advantage to only two points after Washenitz hit her fourth 3-pointer of the night to make the count 52-50 with eight minutes remaining.
For ASU it was not to be as the Mountaineers came out of a timeout and scored 11 straight points to take a commanding 63-50 lead with 2:37 remaining and dash any hopes ASU had of playing in Kansas City another day.
After three games in which it improved on a resume many believed was already good enough for an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament, the Sun Devils will now await word on their postseason fate which will be announced on Selection Sunday (March 15).