Women’s Basketball remains unbeaten following road win over preseason Mountain West favorite UNLV
LAS VEGAS – The Sun Devil women’s basketball team scored nine of the final 13 points to outlast preseason Mountain West favorite UNLV 65-58 on Tuesday night.
With the win, the Sun Devils remained unbeaten (3-0) and improved to 16-0 in nonconference, regular-season contests under second-year head coach Molly Miller. Last season, the Sun Devils went 13-0 in November and December on their way to the best start in program history (15-0).
Ruby Whitehorn (seven of 11 points) and Ayanna-Sarai Darrington (all six points) combined to score 13 of ASU’s 17 points in the fourth quarter to hold off a UNLV squad that pulled within two points three times in the final quarter after trailing by as many as 12 points in the third quarter.
Madison Morson led all scorers with 17 points, Heloisa Carrera had 12 points and McKinna Brackens and Rashunda Jones both came within a point of scoring in double figures with nine points each.
Whitehorn secured her second straight double-double with a game-high 10 rebounds. Brackens (nine rebounds) and Morson (seven rebounds) also had strong rebounding efforts to help the Sun Devils finish plus-nine on the boards (44-35).
Jones once again displayed her outstanding ability for distributing the ball, finishing with seven assists, the third time in the season’s first three games she led or tied for the most assists among all players.
Despite making six consecutive shots at one point in the first quarter, the Sun Devils only led 15-13 after the first 10 minutes.
It appeared Tuesday’s game was following a similar script to ASU’s 79-52 win over Northern Arizona on Thursday. In that contest, the Sun Devils scored four of the last five points in the first half to push a five-point lead to eight at the half. ASU then opened the second half with a 13-2 run, never allowing NAU to get within striking distance.
Against UNLV, after they went through a scoreless stretch of nearly three minutes, the Sun Devils scored the last four points of the second quarter to double their lead from 28-24 to 32-24 at the half.
Like it did against NAU, the Sun Devils once again pushed their lead to double digits after Carrera’s layup made the count 41-29 in ASU’s favor.
It was at that point UNLV forced a script rewrite by scoring the game’s next 11 points to get within a single-point, 41-40.
The tension of the game went up another notch after the Lady Rebels (1-2) tied at the game at 46-46.
Whitehorn followed with a layup to give the Sun Devils a 48-46 lead going into the final quarter.
Morson played a major role in helping ASU during the shaky stretch, scoring eight points in the quarter – the only Sun Devil who scored more than two points in the frame.
The Sun Devils were clutch in the final quarter, responding each of the times the Lady Rebels got within two points: a layup by Whitehorn (5:49 remaining), a rebound and putback by Darrington (5:04), a make from downtown by Morson (2:46).
Trailing by seven, UNLV was able to make it a one-possession game one more time getting within three, 61-58 with 1:14 left.
The Sun Devils once again stepped up, not only keeping the Lady Rebels from scoring again, but also making four free throws in the final 19 seconds to secure the win.
In the end, it was ASU’s ability to make the most of its opportunities at the free throw line (13-17, 76.5 percent) that proved to be the difference in the game as UNLV missed more than half of its attempts (7-16, 43.8 percent).
Up next
The Sun Devils return home to face Penn State on Sunday (2 p.m. MST) at Desert Financial Arena.