No. 19 @SunDevilWBB Erases 18-Point Deficit with 20-0 Run in Comeback Win Over Utah

TEMPE, Ariz. – The No. 19 Arizona State women's basketball team outscored Utah 20-0 over the last 7:45 of regulation to come back from an 18-point deficit and defeat the Utes 60-58 on Sunday.
 
Courtney Ekmark (15 points), Robbi Ryan (11 points) and Kianna Ibis (10 points) combined for 36 points for the Sun Devils (18-6, 9-4 Pac-12), who won their fifth straight game.
 
Charnea Johnson-Chapman (seven points, nine rebounds) and Ibis (nine rebounds) accounted for 18 of ASU's 40 boards in helping ASU finish with a 10-rebound advantage (40-30). The Sun Devils had more than double the amount of offensive rebounds (15-7), which led to an overwhelming 13-2 advantage in second-chance points.

Sophia Elenga (eight points, three rebounds), Jamie Ruden (five points) and Kiara Russell (team-high four assists and four rebounds) also had big contributions in the win.
 
After shooting 33 percent the first three quarters, the Sun Devils knocked down 62 percent of their shots in the final period. During that same 10-minute stretch, ASU forced nine Utah turnovers that directly led to 12 points.
 
Ryan scored 10 of her 11 points in the fourth quarter. The junior guard extended ASU's scoring run to 18-0 and tied the game at 58-58 after draining a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left.
 
Fellow junior guard Reili Richardson drew a charge at the opposite end, giving the Sun Devils a chance to win the game with 1.9 seconds left. ASU would take full advantage of the opportunity as senior guard Courtney Ekmark was fouled while attempting a 3-pointer. Ekmark made two of the three subsequent free throws to give ASU its first lead of the game, 60-58 with less than a second remaining. After a timeout, Utah was unable to get a shot off and the Sun Devils celebrated the improbable comeback win.
 
"At halftime we talked about how this is a team that was ranked 14th in the nation, they're playing this game like it's their last game and if we don't make a change and start playing that way and that hard then we're not going to win," ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "We did it on offense in the third quarter, but I thought in the fourth quarter - I mean what an unbelievable fourth quarter by this team - they finally just shifted gears and locked in. We said 'It's not how you start, it's how you finish. Do you guys believe?' and they said 'Yeah, we do.' I thought it was great team basketball, both ends of the floor in the fourth quarter. Different people were making plays down the stretch, it was really fun."
 
For ASU, Sunday's win was its second dramatic, come-from-behind triumph of the season over Utah. Last month, the Sun Devils used an 8-0 run (back-to-back 3-pointers by Ibis and a basket at the buzzer by Richardson) in the final 1:20 to overtake Utah 65-63 in Salt Lake City.
 
The Utes (18-7, 7-7), who also had three players score in double figures – Megan Huff (15 points), Dru Gylten (12 points) and Kiana Moore (10 points) – scored the game's first seven points and notched 17 points in each of the first two quarters on their way to a 34-20 halftime lead.
 
Utah continued to excel on the offensive end in the third quarter, shooting 64 percent and outscoring ASU 21-18 to extend its lead to 17 points, 55-38, entering the final quarter. Utah scored 12 more points than ASU (20-8) in the last eight minutes of the quarter after ASU opened the second half with a 10-4 run (five points each by Ekmark and Johnson-Chapman) to cut Utah's lead to eight.
 
After Ryan opened the fourth quarter with a jumper, the Utes answered with a 3-pointer by Andrea Torres to take their largest lead of the game, 58-40 with 8:09 remaining. Another jumper by Ryan then ignited what eventually turned out to be the game-deciding 20-0 run.
 
The first of Ryan's two fourth-quarter triples cut Utah's lead to 58-53 with 3:23 remaining. A jumper by Ibis with 1:49 left got ASU within a single possession. Johnson-Chapman helped keep ASU within three points as the senior center came up with an outstanding individual effort, blocking the shot of Utah's Gylten who appeared to be on her way for a layup that would have ended Utah's scoring drought and extended its lead to five with 1:24 remaining. A little more than a minute later, Ryan knotted the score at 58-58.
 
With the win, the Sun Devils maintained their fourth-place standing in the Pac-12, one-half game ahead of UCLA with four games remaining in the regular season.
 
Sunday's final score marked the fourth time in as many games that ASU and Utah were separated by two points. ASU has come out on top in three of the four contests.
 
Up next, the Sun Devils will travel to the Bay Area for games at Cal (Friday at 7 p.m. PT/8 p.m. MT) and at No. 10 Stanford (Sunday at 1 p.m. PT/2 p.m. MT). Both games can be seen on Pac-12 Network and heard on NBC Sports Radio AM 1060.