TEMPE — Arizona State coach Molly Miller made one thing clear at the start of the week – pressure is a privilege.
The stakes couldn’t be higher for the Sun Devils entering the final two games of the Big 12 action. Being projected as the last team out of ESPN’s bracketology for the NCAA Tournament as of Wednesday, Miller’s team likely needed a win against BYU, or against No. 20 Texas Tech Sunday, to give itself a solid chance of making the tournament for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
Yet, the pressure may have proved too much to handle for the Maroon and Gold on Wednesday night.
After trailing by 13 points at halftime, the BYU Cougars (19-10 overall, 8-9 conference) made a stunning second-half turnaround to beat ASU (22-8 overall, 9-8 conference) on Senior Night 66-61, putting a dent in Sparky’s NCAA tournament chances.
The electric atmosphere brought by 6,755 fans at Desert Financial Arena — partially filled by BYU’s traveling cohort — transferred energy to the court, where both teams’ physical styles of play showed early in the game. The Cougars committed nine team fouls in the first 20 minutes, which included sophomore guard Brinley Cannon committing three in nine minutes. BYU also committed twice as many turnovers as the Sun Devils in the first two quarters, which Miller’s team converted into eight points.
Sophomore forward Heloisa Carrera and junior forward McKinna Brackens, who combined for 30 points in the game, tallied eight points early to give ASU a 13-12 lead at the end of the quarter.
Defensively, the Sun Devils limited BYU’s offense to just six points in the second quarter and held the Cougars to shooting 16.7% from the field. The visitors’ 18 first-half points were the second-fewest number of points scored against ASU this season as the Maroon and Gold entered halftime up 31-18.
“I thought we were the tougher, more aggressive, ‘put the other team on their heels in the first half,” Miller said in her postgame press conference.
The second half, however, proved to be a completely different game.
After going 1-for-9 from the 3-point line in the entire first half, the Cougars sank three in a row as part of an 11-4 run, cutting ASU’s lead to six points. A 15-4 run in the final five minutes of the third quarter gave BYU a four-point advantage to stun Miller’s side.
“Sometimes when you’re up, the other team feels a sense of urgency,” Miller said on her team’s third-quarter collapse. “That sense of urgency comes with energy, and it comes from trying a little but harder and hauling the basketball a little bit more. We have to flip that script.”
The Sun Devils gave up 28 points in the third quarter alone. It marked the most points ASU had given up in a single quarter all season.
“It felt like there were five or six (turnovers) in a row, where we didn’t handle that matchup zone very well,” Miller said. “That’s an area where when adversity fades, you gotta dig deep and grind out possessions.”
It seemed BYU was going to coast to a comfortable win as it stretched its lead to double digits in the middle of the final quarter. However, the Maroon and Gold attempted a late rally by scoring six quick points to put the game within a single possession with less than three minutes remaining.
But the hosts couldn’t make their opportunities count. The Sun Devils missed three chances to tie the game: fifth-year guard Gabby Elliott, junior Deborah Davenport and senior guard Marley Washenitz all missed their 3-pointer attempts in a space of one minute.
“We got good shots, it’s another one of those things where we’re trying to get Brackens to her sweet spot,” Miller said on that sequence. “There’s not much you can do and adjust to make those shots go in, but hopefully we can regroup and get our basketball legs back under us and just come with a hunger on the road.”
Despite keeping it close until the end, BYU held onto the victory and completed the double over ASU this season, having beaten Miller’s squad in January.
The Sun Devils will conclude their regular season slate against No. 20 Texas Tech on Sunday at 1 p.m. MST.
“This is an opportunity for us to go knock off a ranked team on the road, then our season looks a lot different,” Miller said. “March Madness is happening in the end of February right now. Anything can happen with teams.”
Leave a Reply