TEMPE, Ariz. – Courtney Ekmark scored a season-high 19 points, and the No. 17 Arizona State Sun Devils routed the Southern University Jaguars of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, 69-47, on Friday night.
The 19 points Ekmark scored were the second-most by a Sun Devil this season behind the 20 Kianna Ibis collected against Arkansas. Eight of her points came in the fourth quarter.
“My teammates handed me the ball,” Ekmark said. “One of the main things we’re trying to work on right now is playing focused every possession. If we want to be an elite team, we need that.”
The Sun Devils (6-2) found an early lead of 24-6, equaling their best defensive performance in a quarter this season. The 42-19 halftime lead also tied for the least amount of points ASU permitted in a first half, although from a different game than its quarter mark. Three treys in the third, two off Skylar O’Bear’s hand, allowed Southern to outscore ASU, 14-13 in the period. O’Bear finished with 16 points on 4-of-8 from downtown. The Jaguars (2-5) kept fighting until the end, jumping up and down on the bench, as shots narrowed the lead to 20 points in the final minutes.
“I thought we played average tonight,” ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “They’re a program that is used to winning, and we know we’re getting everybody’s A-game. I tried to spread the minutes better. I tried to balance things, it’s good to get the win and that everybody played. Overall, it was kind of a wakeup call for this team. We need to be a lot tougher to be where we want to be this year.”
The Sun Devils are at Colorado State at 2 p.m. on Sunday, then will take on Kansas State at the neutral location of La Crosse, Wisc., on Dec. 16. The next home game will be at 2 p.m. on Dec. 20 against Fresno State. Coach Turner Thorne noted that the Colorado State game will be the first time this season that her team will see a zone defense.
No comments:
Post a Comment