Sun Devils slip to DePaul 73-55
The Arizona State women's basketball team saw its three-game winning streak come to an end on, Dec. 16, as No. 23 DePaul recorded Sun Devil opponent season bests in points and field goal percentage on its way to a 73-55 win.
The Sun Devils (7-2) came into Friday night's game ranked fourth in the nation in FG goal pct. defense (.299) and No. 17 in scoring defense (50.9 ppg). Despite their impressive defensive credentials up to this point in the season, the Sun Devils could do little to stop the DePaul attack as the Blue Demons (10-2) shot 46 percent for the game while scoring 14 more points than any of ASU's previous eight opponents.
DePaul's trio of Brittany Hrynko (25 points, 9-17 FGs, five assists), Katherine Harry (14 points, 7-11 FGs, seven rebounds) and Jasmine Penny (14 points, 5-10 FGs) combined to score 53 of DePaul's points while shooting 55 percent (21-38 FGs) from the field.
The Sun Devils, who shot 40 percent for the game, were led by Janae Fulcher, who had season bests in points (16) and rebounds (7) while connecting on 7-11 FGs.
ASU had a plus-12 advantage in rebounds for the game (42-30), including a 12-5 advantage in offensive boards and a 13-4 advantage second-chance points. However the biggest contributing factor in the Sun Devils' loss was their inability to take care of the basketball as they committed nearly twice as many turnovers as DePaul (20-11). The Blue Demons would take advantage of those miscues, converting them into 22 points.
Very little went right for ASU in the first half as DePaul scored the first nine points of the game to put the Sun Devils in an early hole. More than eight minutes went by before the Sun Devils recorded their first field goal of the game, a layup by Fulcher, which got them to within 11-4 with 11:24 left in the first half.
The most telling sequence of the first 20 minutes came after a layup by Kali Bennett got ASU within seven, 21-14, with 6:52 left. The Blue Demons would counter with an 18-5 run over the next 3:50 to take a 38-19 lead following Deanna Ortiz' 3-point play. DePaul would eventually head into the locker room with a 41-26 lead.
Bennett (seven points, 3-3 FGs), Fulcher (six points, 3-3 FGs) and Micaela Pickens (five points, 2-4 FGs) combined to shoot 8-10 from the floor and score 18 of ASU's 26 first-half points while the rest of the team shot 18 percent (3-17).
The Blue Demons shot 49 percent in the first half while committing only three turnovers. Leading the way for DePaul was Hrynko, who scored 16 points (6-9 FGs).
DePaul was never seriously threatened the rest of the game as the Sun Devils were not able to get within single digits at any point in the second half.
The Sun Devils return to action on, Dec. 22, when they host Army at 6:30 p.m., MT.