In a rivalry game and a battle of 7-3 teams, Arizona would destroy Arizona State 91-52 in Desert Financial Arena.
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ASU 52 | Arizona 91
— Sun Devil WBB (@SunDevilWBB) December 18, 2023
Arizona State’s Guard Jalyn Brown would continue her hot stretch with her fifth straight 15+ point game. She had 19 points and eight rebounds. However, with the duo of Kailyn Gilbert and Helena Pueyo combining for 37 points, Arizona State’s meltdown in the second quarter ultimately cost them the victory.
First Quarter
Arizona State started off very well when a Jaddan Simmons three helped propel them to an early 10-8 lead in the first quarter. From there, Arizona started to find its groove. They went on an immediate 9-0 run, all by Gilbert and Pueyo. From there, it was back and forth, heading into the second with Arizona up 24-16.
Arizona shot 71% from the field in the first quarter and 80% from three. Arizona State shot 35% from the field and 33% from three. Yet somehow, this was close after one, with ASU getting to five free throws. Brown, Simmons, and Trayanna Crisp all had four points for the Sun Devils, while Esmer Martinez led the Wildcats with 7.
Second Quarter
The second quarter was bad. It was one of the worst quarters you might see all year for this team. The Sun Devils scored four points in the first eight minutes of this period. Two of those were early on a Crisp layup, while the other two were free throws by Jalyn Brown. While ASU was doing everything but finding the basket, Arizona did just that. They hit five threes and five layups at the same time, and it took ASU to score four points. Skylar Jones was not missing. She went 3/4 from the field in that run with two three-pointers.
Arizona State finally put a couple of layups together at the end of the quarter but allowed two threes from Gilbert and Pueyo to lose the second quarter 28-8 and be down going into halftime 52-24.
Trayanna Crisp finished with half of the Sun Devils’ points in that quarter with four. Jones had eight points for the Wildcats, while Pueyo and Gilbert each had seven. Arizona shot 73% from the field and 83% from three. On the other hand, ASU only had 11 shots total and made two of them. They finished with six turnovers in a very embarrassing quarter.
Second Half
I’m going to make the second half quick because it was ugly. Arizona State started fouling a lot in the third quarter. Seven of the Wildcat’s 16 third-quarter points came from the free-throw line. The Sun Devils had six points in the first seven minutes of the quarter before ending it on a 7-1 run. They would eventually finish the quarter down 68-37.
Jalyn Brown had six for the Sun Devils, while Breya Cunningham had seven for Arizona. The Wildcats had their worst shooting quarter of the game. They only shot 33%, while going 1-2 from three. The Sun Devils went 23% from the field and 0-4 from three.
The fourth quarter started with Arizona going on a 12-2 run and giving themselves a 41-point lead. Jalyn Brown helped the Sun Devils get the lead under forty by the end of the game with seven points in the last four minutes, but that was just for pride as Arizona State fell to their rivals with the same record, 91-52.
It’s the most points ASU has allowed since Stanford dropped 96 on them last year. The Sun Devils shot 30% from the field and only 21% from three in an embarrassing offensive performance. Defensively, they allowed Arizona to shoot 56% from the floor and 65% from three. Arizona State drops to 7-4 while Arizona moves to 8-3.
Arizona State will try to bounce back in the Footprint Center, where they face 7-5 Fresno State.
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