This article was originally published on February 17, 2023.
The Arizona State (7-17, 0-15 Pac-12) women’s basketball team lost their 15th straight game in conference play to the Colorado Buffaloes Friday afternoon, 70-62.
Junior guard Tyi Skinner was the primary contributor with 27 points, three assists and four steals. Eight of her 27 points came from free throws, after drawing numerous fouls off the Buffaloes’ defenders while driving through the paint.
This game had a very different atmosphere than most women’s basketball games, as the majority of the crowd were fans aged 13 years old or younger. This game featured Sparky’s Kids to College Day, which invited over 1,200 kids to attend the game for free, to cheer on the Sun Devils.
The screams of the kids echoed in Desert Financial Arena, as audience engagement seemed to be a large factor in the Sun Devils’ ability to stay in the game.
“Having the fans is an added bonus, the energy and the environment, we just feed off of it,” junior guard Sydney Erikstrup said.
At the beginning of the game, ASU came out with aggressive defense. It kept the game tight as there were six lead changes in the 1st quarter, and two to start the 2nd quarter which became the last lead changes before Colorado held on for the rest of the game.
ASU junior guard Jaddan Simmons had a quiet afternoon with only 11 points in the game, but she showed her presence defensively with five total rebounds, a block and a steal.
But, as mentioned earlier, this was the Tyi Skinner show. The only reason the Sun Devils were in this game was Skinner’s ability to drive into the paint, get a bucket, and follow that by going to the free-throw line.
On top of that, ASU was able to force Colorado turnovers and found ways to score off them. In the second quarter, however, Colorado started to pull away, with an 11-point lead to end the first half.
The third quarter was the Sun Devils’ turn to go on a scoring run, as they brought it within four points after a seven-minute and 30-second field-goal scoring drought by Colorado.
During that time, ASU went on a 15-4 scoring run, with the 4 points for Colorado coming off of free throws.
After leading by as much as 15 during the start of the third quarter, the Buffaloes were able to still hold onto a lead over ASU by 7 points at the end of it despite the 15-4 ASU run.
Colorado junior guard Tameiya Sadler, senior center Quay Miller, and sophomore guard Kindyll Wetta proved to be matchup nightmares for the Sun Devils, with sharp shooting on the perimeter, and Miller cleaning the boards off misses.
ASU depended on Skinner to finish the game for them, playing all 40 available minutes in the game, while Colorado won by committee.
Everyone who played over 20 minutes for the Buffaloes scored at least 8 points, while that wasn’t the case for ASU. The Buffaloes also had 20 assists as a team, while the Devils had half of that number.
Skinner put everything she had into this game, especially the fourth quarter, to try and get something going for the Devils. For a moment, ASU had cut the lead down to just 2 points with a little over three minutes to go in the game.
But after cutting it close, the Buffaloes came back with enough free throws and open shots to win the game 70-62.
“We’re going to fight, every game they’re coming out competing to win. There were moments today when I was super proud of our effort and toughness,” ASU coach Natasha Adair said. “And this group is going to continue to get better and continue growing.”
The Sun Devils will play at home one last time this season against Utah on Sunday at noon.
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