Sun Devils fly away from Air Force in second half to open season

November 5, 2019

By Scott Mammoser

TEMPE – The Arizona State women’s basketball team opened its quest for a seventh-consecutive NCAA Tournament berth with an 87-56 win over Air Force at the newly-named Desert Financial Arena on Tuesday. The Sun Devils are ranked 18^th in the nation and return senior guards Robbi Ryan and Reili Richardson from last season’s 22-11 team that fell to Mississippi State in the Sweet 16, although Ryan is in the latter stages of nursing an injury.

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“The first half was had the classic first game jitters,” said senior forward Jamie Ruden, who scored 14 points. “At halftime, we said to relax and be disciplined, and that carried over to the second half.”

After opening with a 40-29 lead at halftime, the Sun Devils exhausted the Falcons with an increased tempo of play that head coach Charli Turner Thorne said she would like to incorporate. That is a contradiction to her traditionally defense-focused style of play.

“The way we’re playing this year, in the second half, we want to wear teams down,” Turner Thorne said. “The guards need to rebound this year, and then we will play faster. All of our new kids, even the sophomores, did not play as well as they practiced, they were nervous.”

Sara Bejedi, the freshman guard from Finland, who scored 16 points per game in the World University Games this summer, debuted for ASU with 12 points and three assists. Fellow freshmen Eboni Walker and Sydnei Caldwell donned the maroon and gold for the first time on Tuesday, as well as Ja’Tavia Tapley, a 6-foot-3 graduate transfer from USC. Tapley scored 11 and grabbed eight rebounds, while Jayde Van Hyfte scored 12.

Kamri Heath, a 5-foot-7 freshman from Oklahoma, scored 12 in the first half and finished with 16 points in her first career game at Air Force. Emily Conroe added 12 points and eight rebounds, as well.

ASU will host a second military institution when Army visits Tempe at 5 p.m. MT on Sunday, before a road trip takes the Sun Devils to No. 23 Minnesota on Nov. 17.

The Falcons, who were 8-22 and 10^th of 11 teams in the Mountain West Conference last year, will next face NJIT at home on Friday. The Sun Devils were the only ranked opponent on the Falcons’ schedule this season, but there is a game at Tennessee on Dec. 1. Boise State is heavily-favorited to win the Mountain West this campaign.