Washington defeats short-handed Sun Devil WBB
SEATTLE – The Sun Devil women's basketball team was not able to leave the state of Washington with a split as the Washington Huskies did just enough to defeat a short-handed Sun Devil squad, 74-69 on Sunday.
Katelyn Levings, who started for post Jayde Van Hyfte on Sunday (Van Hyfte was injured in the final minutes of ASU's contest started at Washington State on Friday), led ASU with a career high 14 points.
Mael Gilles provided ASU with an outstanding effort scoring six points, grabbing a game-high eight rebounds, dishing out a career-high seven assists (ties the single-game high by an ASU player this season) and also adding two steals and one block. Also scoring in double figures was Jade Loville who added 10 points.
The Sun Devils received important contributions from their bench as Gabriela Bosquez tied her career high in scoring with nine points. Also providing ASU with solid scoring outings were Ayzhiana Basallo and Imogen Greenslade, who scored six points each
Eight different Sun Devils scored during a first quarter in which ASU connected on 51 percent of its shots. Loville led the way with four points while four other Sun Devils – Levings, Jaddan Simmons Basallo, and Bosquez – knocked down 3-pointers to help ASU take a 22-16 lead after 10 minutes.
Gilles' basket late in the quarter sparked an 8-0 scoring run that carried over into the second quarter. Greenslade's jumper gave ASU its largest lead of the game, 28-16, a little more than three minutes into the second quarter.
After scoring 28 points in just over 13 minutes, ASU's scoring pace started to slow down. Making matters worse was the Huskies slowly started to find their groove as they scored the next 13 points over a span of 3:26 to erase ASU's lead and take a one-point lead of their own, 29-28 with 3:05 left in the half.
Levings (3-pointer) and Bosquez (layup) teamed up to provide the Sun Devils with enough to give them a 33-31 lead at the half.
The Huskies (6-14, 1-11) used a 60-percent shooting effort to outscore ASU 23-14 in the third quarter and go into the fourth quarter with a 54-47 lead.
The Sun Devils were the only team to score over the first 4:30 of the final period to get within two points.
Just like in Friday's loss at Washington State, the Sun Devils were within a single possession for most of the last five minutes. They even managed to pull even with the Huskies after Taya Hanson's 3-pointer knotted the score at 62-62 with 2:17 remaining.
Washington eventually went back up by four. Still, there was no quit in the Sun Devils. With 12 seconds left, the Devils had possession of the ball and needed a 3-pointer to tie. Loville's attempt to tie the score missed its mark and the Huskies hit two free throws at the opposite end to clinch the win.
In addition to Van Hyfte, the Sun Devils were also without starting post Maggie Besselink, who has not played since February 6.
The Sun Devils will close out the regular season this week when they host USC (Thursday at 5 p.m. / Pac-12 Network, Pac-12 Arizona / KDUS AM 1060) and UCLA (Saturday at 12 p.m. / Pac-12 Arizona / KDUS AM 1060) Thursday's game will celebrate Black Heritage Month. On Sunday, the program will honor graduate transfer Mael Gilles for Senior Day.