Sports360AZVideo by Eliav Gabay
Article by Jeff Metcalfe
After playing its most complete half of the young season, Arizona State women’s basketball was dominated in the second half Thursday by cross-town Grand Canyon.
GCU, a slight favorite, erased a nine-point halftime deficit and outscored ASU by 20 points (37-17) in the second half of a 70-59 victory at Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix.
The WAC favorite Lopes improved to 2-1. ASU, playing its first season in the Big 12, dropped to 1-2 while losing for a second straight season to GCU.
“We play a special brand of defense, and we couldn’t run it unless they were bought into it,” GCU coach Molly Miller said. “For us, pressure is also a unit. A 1-on-1 defensive scheme can’t be a unit. We really try to get in our gaps, stunt, help side, come over and take some charges. When they had a mismatch in the post, our posts fought around, we had back-side help. Kudos to our kids for carrying over that game plan.
“It’s heart on that end and effort. Those are two things we really, really care about in our program.”
GCU took its first lead (47-46) since 1-0 with an 8-0 run in the third quarter. Eight more lead changes followed before the third ended with the Lopes leading 55-54.
Buoyed by its boisterous student section, GCU scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to lead 63-54. The Sun Devils were 2-of-12 shooting in the fourth, scored only five points and could claw no closer than six points over the final five minutes.
“The first half things were moving, we were playing some defense,” ASU coach Natasha Adair said. “The second half there were key rotations where we overhelped and left a shooter open, where it was second- and third-chance opportunities and uncharacteristic live ball turnovers. We talked to them about putting together 40 full minutes and not 20.”
Alyssa Durazo-Frescas, transfer from UNLV, went 6-of-10 from 3-point, scoring a game-high 22 for GCU. Lopes star Trinity San Antonio was limited to three minutes in the first half due to fouls but still barely missed out on a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds. Tiarra Brown added 14 and was a key on defense.
Jazion Jackson, transfer from Texas Tech, started in her ASU debut, scoring four points.
Maggie Besselink played for the first time since Jan. 19, returning from knee surgery to play 15 minutes while wearing a large brace. She started at ASU in the 2020-21 season but has played in only 43 games due to a series of injuries.
Tyi Skinner led ASU with 15 points and 6-7 Kennedy Basham had a 10/13 double-double.
GCU transformed a 14-2 deficit in points off turnovers at halftime to a 17-14 advantage by committing just four second-half giveaways.
ASU is home to SMU on Saturday and Oregon State on Sunday in the Briann January Classic. GCU, which lost 57-47 at Middle Tennessee on Nov. 8, plays Monday at No. 25 Oregon.
“We’re learned early in the season what a highly competitive game feels like,” Miller said. “How we need to prepare for that, having to execute, the value of every possession. Those little things that you learn, hopefully they trickle down. We have this tough non-conference schedule to prepare us for March.”
