Arizona State (2-0, 0-0 Pac-12) looked to start the year with back-to-back wins at home against Montana State (0-2, 0-0 Big Sky) Friday night and ended up doing just that, securing a 75-62 victory against the Bobcats.
A fourth-quarter run ended up securing the win after the Bobcats mounted a comeback late in the game.
ASU came flying out of the gate, dropping 30 points in the first quarter in an offensive explosion as they led 30-19.
The Sun Devils were led by sophomore forward Kadidia Toure and senior guard Jaddan Simmons, who each scored 17 points on the night.
The effort from both players was high, especially Toure, throughout Friday’s win.
“Just playing hard, that’s it,” Toure said. “I’m not looking for anything else but going hard, and everything else will come.”
In the second quarter, the Sun Devils stiffened up defensively, only allowing eight points. They played a more aggressive brand of defense, not letting Montana State into the paint and forcing turnover after turnover.
“We had to be really disciplined; we had to be on the helpline, we had to really emphasize no slips, no backdoors, no face cuts,” head coach Natasha Adair said.
Arizona State went into the half up 45-27, feeling good about themselves in a game where they dominated the time of possession and scoring.
The message at half from Adair was to keep the foot on the pedal and not let up, but Arizona State struggled to do that in the second half.
The main difference between the first and second half for the Sun Devils was shooting. They had a 47% field goal percentage in the first half and went 4-9 from three. In the second half, they fell to a 31% field goal percentage and went 0-5 from three.
“These are the options we tell all five players, ‘If this is the shot that you work on every day and the shot you practice, you should be confident taking it in a game,’” Adair said.
ASU came out flat in the third quarter, allowing the Bobcats to come back into the game as Montana State put up 25 points in the quarter, only trailing by eight points to start the fourth 60-52.
Montana State was led by senior guard Katelynn Limardo, who led the team with 18 points, and sophomore forward Marah Dykstra, who had 17 points on the night.
Arizona State was able to lock it down defensively in the fourth quarter. The Sun Devils allowed ten points in the fourth and avoided the upset.
“We didn’t need any offensive hero plays; we needed to do it with defense, and so that’s when we just refocused and said, ‘ Stop, score, stop to the finish,’” Adair said.
The Sun Devils’ bench produced great results, as it tallied 22 points compared to Montana State’s 11.
Arizona State will look to keep its early season form on Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. MST when it hosts San Francisco at Desert Financial Arena.
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