Jan. 25, 2013
LOS ANGELES - The Arizona State women's basketball team came back from a 16-point deficit to defeat USC 60-53 on Friday night, giving Sun Devil head coach Charli Turner Thorne her 300th win as Arizona State's head coach.
For the Sun Devils (11-8, 3-4), who were coming off a pair of double-digit setbacks on the road at Colorado and at Utah last week, Friday's win was truly a grind-it-out team effort.
Promise Amukamara and Janae Fulcher tied for the team lead in scoring with nine points each. Joy Burke added eight points and Adrianne Thomas and Haley Videckis added seven points each for the Sun Devils, who outscored USC 40-17 while shooting 59 percent in the second half.
The Trojans' recent play belied its sub-.500 record coming into Friday's game. After posting a 3-8 non-conference record, USC won its first four Pac-12 games before dropping road games last week at Cal and Stanford, currently ranked No. 7 and No. 6 in the country, respectively. The Trojans nearly upset the former and were within five points of the latter in the final three minutes.
Fast forward to Friday's game and it appeared it would be USC (7-11, 4-3) that was going to be the team to bounce back from last week following a first half in which it dominated the boards (24-12) on its way to a 36-20 halftime lead.
Cassie Harberts, who had game highs in points (24) and rebounds (14), scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the first half for USC, which had a 12-2 advantage in second-chance points during the first 20 minutes.
The Sun Devils and Trojans took turns trading baskets several times over the first five minutes of the second half as USC continued to maintain a comfortable lead over the Sun Devils. Elisha Davis, who had a game-high five assists, and Fulcher would get the Sun Devils within eight two times, but in both instances USC would respond with baskets of its own, the second of which was a 3-pointer by Ariya Crook, which put USC back up by 11, 47-36, with 12:47 remaining.
The Sun Devils answered with four straight points - two free throws by Thomas and a bucket by Videckis - to get within seven, however would then go scoreless the next two minutes.
Harberts made one-of-two free throws on back-to-back possessions to put the Trojans back up by nine points, 49-40 with 9:42 remaining.
ASU would use most of the shot clock on its ensuing possession before Eliza Normen's jumper got ASU back within seven, 49-42. The two teams would then combine for only five points over the next four-plus minutes as the Trojans went back up by eight, 52-44, after a layup by Harberts with 5:42 left.
Harberts' field goal would be USC's final of the game as the Sun Devils' chopping wood mentality, which had cut USC's once-16-point advantage in half, laid the foundation for a game-deciding flurry over the last five minutes of regulation.
A pair of free throws by Arnecia Hawkins and a 3-pointer by Videckis trimmed the deficit to 52-49 with 4:26 remaining.
A free throw by Harberts accounted for the only scoring over the next 2:40 until Amukamara, who scored all nine of her points in the second half, got ASU within a single point, 53-52 with 1:44 left.
Amukamara's triple was the start of an 11-0 barrage the Sun Devils would use to close out the game.
The Sun Devils' execution was flawless over the last two minutes as they made both of their field goal attempts and all six of their free throws while forcing USC into a pair of misses and three turnovers.
A layup by Thomas and a trio of two-for-two trips to the foul line by Videckis, Hawkins and Amukamara put the finishing touches on the win.
While its efficiency on the offensive end was a critical element in its comeback, so too was ASU's defensive effort, which forced USC into shooting 24 percent in the second half. The Trojans made only one of 11 shots over the last nine minutes of the game.
With Friday's win Turner Thorne becomes only the third coach in Pac-12 history to win 300 games while coaching in the conference. She joins Tara VanDerveer, who currently has 726 wins at Stanford, and current Yale head coach Chris Gobrecht, who had a combined 312 wins coaching at Washington and USC.
Turner Thorne played for VanDerveer at Stanford and served as a graduate assistant under Gobrecht at Washington.
The Sun Devils conclude their road trip to Los Angeles on Sunday (2 p.m. PT/3 p.m. MT) when they take on No. 19 UCLA. The game can be heard live on The Fan AM 1060.