Record crowd roars for lead but ASU rallies

Wednesday, November 30

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

5-1,0-0WAC

Arizona State

6-1,0-0Pac-12

Arizona St.

Grand Canyon

Phoenix, AZ. Nov. 30, 2022: GCU comes up short in their 80-72 loss to ASU at GCU Arena.

11/30/2022 9:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball, Paul Coro

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In front of 6,019 fans at GCU Arena, Sun Devils take programs' 1st meeting in 28 years

By: Paul Coro

It did not take having Grand Canyon guards Aaliyah Collins and Tiarra Brown trap Arizona State into a game-opening turnover and Lopes fastbreak layup in the first 16 seconds for Arizona State to know it was in for a different experience Wednesday night.

GCU Arena began to fill with a Lopes women's basketball record crowd of 6,019 fans well before tipoff, setting off a Purple Pregame Party that GCU extended to an 11-point, fourth-quarter Lopes lead before a 35-point fourth quarter rallied ASU to an 80-72 victory.

The crowd more than doubled the previous attendance record of 2,831 and ranked as the third-largest crowd for a mid-major home team this season.

"Look what this did for women's basketball tonight," Lopes head coach Molly Miller said of the first Lopes-Sun Devils women's basketball game since 1994. "I think this definitely progressed our sport, and I think it was an exciting brand of basketball that fans got to watch. Both teams got after it. This is a good game for us, and I thought we held our own for the most part."

ASU outscored GCU 29-7 at the free throw line to offset committing a season-high 19 turnovers (seven above its average) and allowing five Lopes to score in double figures.

In the programs' first meeting in 28 years, the Sun Devils (6-1) asserted itself amid the delirium of GCU's opening sequence and took a 13-6 lead that it maintained by keeping the Lopes (5-1) off the free throw line until the second quarter.

The Sun Devils' speedy, skilled guards helped limit ASU's turnovers to four in the first quarter against GCU's pressure defense. The Sun Devils ended the quarter with their largest lead at 20-12 before the Lopes' defense wreaked its havoc.

"We were a little rattled with all the hype in the beginning, but we settled in," Miller said. "I told them to let that energy or the emotion turn into effort. We got some steals and some layups. Where we needed to take the lid off the basket is at the basket. Getting those first steals and generating some momentum from the crowd got us going because that's our brand of basketball. I think the pressure showed up again tonight. That's a pretty good team that takes care of the ball. We rattled them a little bit."

ASU went nearly four minutes without scoring and more than six minutes without making a field goal, but it was the Lopes' offensive end that pumped up the arena volume. GCU sophomore guard Naudia Evans found junior guard Sydney Palma twice for 3-pointers, with the second one coming off an offensive rebound by Brown.

"The hype is real," said Palma, who scored 13 points. "It was just really special no matter what the outcome was. It was one of the funnest moments ever.

"When we saw the whole place was filled, it just took the energy from one thing to another. We were so excited and happy that people were coming to support women's basketball, and we hope that we showed them that they should come back."

The Lopes nearly added two more 3-point plays in old-school fashion with Brown and Palma steals leading to breakaway and-one opportunities for Brown and junior guard Maisa Marcal. Brown converted her free throw to put GCU ahead 21-20, but Marcal missed hers and freshman guard Emma Krueger's ensuing 1-for-2 free throw trip finished a 12-0 Lopes run for a 24-20 edge.

Despite 5-for-12 free-throw shooting, the Lopes kept the lead until the half's final minute when ASU guard Tyi Skinner's jumper put the Sun Devils ahead 32-31 at halftime. Brown's eight-point, six-rebound half steadied the Lopes, whose defense sped up the Sun Devils into seven second-quarter turnovers to tighten the game. Brown finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds while Collins scored 12 and added four steals.

"Tiarra and Aaliyah especially just brought it," Miller said. "Naudia hit some really clutch shots. That moment wasn't too big for those three and also Sydney. When you're looking at progress, there's some balance here we can work with."

The Lopes were just getting warmed up, piling on 23 points in the third quarter with Evans draining three 3-pointers and scoring 10 of those points. Brown's steal and layup capped an early 9-0 run in which GCU shut out ASU for more than four minutes. Evans' back-to-back 3s electrified the crowd for a 46-38 lead even before Brown added another 3 from the same left-wing spot to lead 49-40.

Palma closed out the quarter with a banked pull-up jumper to maintain that nine-point margin, 54-45, and GCU took its largest lead, 56-45 when graduate power forward Evan Zars posted up on the Lopes' opening fourth-quarter possession.

"We need four of those third quarters," Miller said. "We're just going to get more and more consistent as the year goes on with so many new players, integrating 10 new players."

ASU pivoted the game when it went to the free-throw line on four consecutive possessions, two of which came off Lopes turnovers. GCU went five minutes without scoring, a stretch in which it was 0 for 6 with four turnovers to allow a 15-0 run that put the Sun Devils ahead 60-56.

The Lopes pulled within a possession twice on Palma's third 3-pointer and a swerving Collins drive, but the Sun Devils responded with a 7-0 run that included an improbable, banked corner 3-pointer and kept GCU at a distance for the remainder.

Lopes junior forward Dominique Phillips appeared to give her team one last breath with five points in a six-second span, including a 3-point play on a scoop shot against her body. With ASU leading 72-68 and 34 seconds remaining, the Lopes looked for a turnover and thought they had it when Palma pressured Skinner back across the half-court line, but officials conferred after a whistle and made a foul call on Palma.

"This was a hostile environment," ASU head coach Natasha Adair told azcentral. "To come on the road in this environment and for us to be down and we fight. We talked about before the game being competitors and what do they do? They leave it all on the floor."

GCU's one-on-one defense and pressure disrupted ASU's star guards, Skinner and Jaddan Simmons, who went 9 for 27 from the field. But the pair feasted at the free throw line, combining for 22 points there with Skinner going 15 for 17.

"This is a tough pill to swallow, but we're going to learn from it and it'll hopefully make us better in March," Miller said. "We're right there. The experience we gained from this game is so valuable to help us with the next one, the next one and the next one. Down the road, although it stings right now, this is only going to make us better."