Gym Devils fall to Illinois
The 25th ranked Arizona State women's gymnastics team (4-3, 2-2 Pac-12) fell to No. 18 Illinois, 195.525 - 195.775 but not after giving a spectacular performance, Sunday. Arizona State not only scored the second highest team score of the season, but also broke season and career highs right and left. The Gym Devils brought the heat during their bars rotation as Natelle Gentile and Kahoku Palafox set new season-highs in the event, but the Sun Devils could not out-pace season-high scores on floor and beam from the Fighting Illini.
Freshman Natelle Gentile broke both her season and career highs on vault and bars by scoring a 9.775 on vault and a 9.750 on bars. Senior Stephanie Hangartner also tied her season high and career high for a third time on bars with a 9.825. Fellow senior, Kahoku Palafox also bested her previous season high of 9.850 after sticking her landing on bars for a score of 9.875.
Senior Beate Jones really showed her strength and agility with a dynamic performance on floor scoring a 9.900, tying both her season and career highs. Leading off the ASU line-up, sophomore Samantha Seaman scored a 9.775 and freshman Natasha Sundby recorded a 9.825, just shy of both of their season highs. Also just shy of breaking her season and career high of 9.875 on floor was freshman Morgan Steigerwalt landing herself a 9.850.
Jones, Palafox, and freshman Brianna Gades all tied one another with scores of 9.800 on beam. That was not the only tie the Sun Devils would have on beam. Gentile and teammate Morgan Steigerwalt tied on beam with scores of 9.675 after Setigerwalt hopped out of her landing.
The next home meet for the Sun Devils will be March 9th at 7 p.m. PT against the Stanford Cardinal.