Sun Devil women's basketball defeats Florida, wins South Point Thanksgiving Shootout

Janae Fulcher scored a career-best 26 points and Joy Burke and Promise Amukamara each added 11 points to lead Arizona State to a 74-58 win over Florida at the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout.

By virtue of UNI's win over N.C. State in Sunday's second game, the Sun Devils were declared tournament champions.

Fulcher's 26 points were the most by a Sun Devil since Danielle Orsillo scored 29 points at Oregon on Feb. 13, 2010, while ASU's 58.2 shooting percentage was its highest since the aforementioned contest at Oregon when it shot 64.6 percent. In addition, the Sun Devils had a season-best 18 assists with a quartet of players - Amukamara, Burke, Jada Blackwell and Micaela Pickens - leading the way with three apiece.

Fulcher (13-16 FGs), Burke (5-6 FGs) and Amukamara (3-6 FGs), combined to shoot 75 percent (21-28 FGs) in the win. Amukamara made all four of her free throw attempts and also added three assists and a career-high seven steals, the most steals by a Sun Devil since Tenaya Watson had nine vs. Cal Poly on Dec. 9, 2010.

The Sun Devils never trailed as they outscored Florida 14-4 over the first 6:49 of the game. On the opposite end, the Sun Devils' pressure defense never allowed the Gators to get into an offensive rhythm as Florida (5-2) did not make its first field goal until more than five minutes had elapsed. The Gators shot 25 percent in the first half and would end up shooting 31 percent for the game.

ASU would lead by as many as 15 in the first half and took a 35-22 lead into the locker room. Fulcher's 14 points led ASU the first 20 minutes of the game.

Neither Fulcher (6-6) nor Burke (4-4) missed a field goal in the second half as the duo teamed up to score 20 points.

The Gators would get no closer than eight in the second half as the Sun Devils used several scoring spurts to stymie the Florida attack. A 13-4 run gave ASU its largest lead of the game, 74-52 with 1:49 remaining.

Fulcher (13.7 ppg, 5.7 rpg) and Burke (12.3 ppg, 7.7 rpg) combined to average 26 points and 13.4 rebounds per game during the three-game tournament and were both named to the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout All-Tournament Team.

The Sun Devils return to action next week when they host the ASU Classic, which will also include Binghamton, No. 24 Dayton and UNLV. The ASU Classic will begin on Saturday when ASU takes on Binghamton at 1 p.m. Dayton will then face UNLV 25 minutes after game one. Then on Sunday, Binghamton will face either Dayton or UNLV at noon and ASU will face either Dayton or UNLV at 2:30 p.m.