Women's basketball rallies to defeat Oregon
Kimberly Brandon scored 12 of her game-high 20 points in the second half as the Arizona State women's basketball team used a 21-6 run in the final 6:58 of the game to defeat Oregon 75-66.
Brandon (7-13 FGs), who came into Thursday's game shooting 59 percent in ASU's previous four games, also added eight rebounds, four steals, two assists and one block while Dymond Simon (17 points, 5-6 FTs) and Becca Tobin (15 points, 7-8 FGs) also scored in double figures for the Sun Devils, who won for the fourth time in five games.
Amanda Johnson led Oregon with 19 points while Ariel Thomas had 18 and Kristi Fallin had 13 for the Ducks, who shot 49 percent for the game.
After leading by as many as 17 points in the first half the Sun Devils (18-9, 10-7 Pac-10) found themselves on the wrong end of a 27-9 run by the Ducks (13-15, 4-13) in the second half that was capped by a 3-pointer by Danielle Love which gave Oregon a 60-54 lead with 7:13 left.
The Sun Devils would account for the game's next 10 points as they slowly chipped away, scoring six of the 10 points at the free throw line to take a 64-60 lead.
A jumper by Thomas pulled the Ducks within two, 64-62, however Brandon would answer as she connected on a jumper and a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions to give ASU a 69-62 lead with 1:51 left.
The Ducks would get no closer than five the rest of the way as Simon (1-1 FGs, 2-2 FTs) and Brandon (2-2 FTs) combined for six points over the last 1:05 of the game.
The Sun Devils connected on 71 percent (5-7) of their field goals and 83 percent of their free throws (10-12) over the last seven minutes of the game while limiting the Ducks to 33 percent (3-9 FGs) from the floor over that same span. In addition, ASU also did not have a single turnover during that stretch while outrebounding the Ducks 6-2.
Simon (nine points) and Brandon (eight points) combined for 17 points in the first half to help the Sun Devils build a 37-26 halftime lead. The Sun Devils were opportunistic during the first 20 minutes as they held advantages in both points off turnovers (13-2) and second-chance points (10-6).
The Ducks came out and looked like an entirely different team in the second half as they made 67 percent of their field goals attempts (12-18) during the first 13 minutes of the second half, including 75 percent (6-8) of their 3-pointers.
Johnson (14 points, 5-9 FGs), Thomas (12 points, 5-10 FGs) and Fallin (11 points, 4-4 FGs) were the key players in the rally as they combined for 37 of Oregon's 40 second half points while shooting a combined 61 percent from the field.
The Sun Devils close out the regular season portion of their schedule on Saturday (2 p.m. PT/3 p.m. MT) at Oregon State. The game can be heard live on KAZG 1440 AM.