TEMPE – What has become one of the more exciting rivalries in Pac-12 women's basketball resulted in yet another nail biter on Friday afternoon as the No. 18/19 Arizona State Sun Devils came just shy of the No. 13/14 Stanford Cardinal in a 64-57 decision at Wells Fargo Arena.
Freshman Reili Richardson scored a career-best 14 points – seven of which coming in the fourth quarter – while senior Sophie Brunner stuffed the stat sheet again with a team-high 15 points to go with nine rebounds.
The Sun Devils (9-3, 0-1 Pac-12) were aggressive on the offensive boards, finishing with 22 offensive rebounds to 20 on the defensive end as the team outrebounded the Cardinal 42-31 overall. The Devils capitalized with 22 second chance points, keeping pace with Stanford (11-1, 1-1 Pac-12) throughout the second half despite a stingy defense from the Cardinal.
With four of the last five games between the two programs being decided by a three points or fewer, Friday's contest sang a similar tune with 11 lead changes and eight ties.
After going down by the team's largest deficit of the game at eight points with 4:41 remaining, the Sun Devils responded with an 8-2 run behind a couple of and-ones from Richardson and Quinn Dornstauder to cut the lead to 58-57 with 1:19 left.
Trailing 59-57 with 20 seconds left, Dornstauder was called for a foul on Erica McCall's three-point attempt with the shot clock winding down. McCall knocked down all three of her attempts from the line and effectively put the game out of ASU's reach.
Brunner's layup with 2:13 left in the third quarter would give the Sun Devils a 42-41 lead before the Stanford ripped off a 7-0 run to close the frame and take a lead it wouldn't relinquish in the fourth quarter.
The Sun Devils led through much of the first half, shooting over 40 percent from the field against a Cardinal team that had limited opponents to just 23 percent shooting in the first halves of its previous four games combined. Brunner led the way on 4-of-4 shooting with eight points in the half but a 7-2 Stanford run to close out the second frame sent the Devils into the halftime locker trailing 32-31.
Stanford's Karlie Samuelson led all players with 16 points while McCall added 12 of her own behind her 8-of-9 effort from the free throw line.
The Sun Devils will return to Pac-12 action on Sunday for a New Year's Day tilt against the 21st-ranked and currently undefeated California Golden Bears at 3 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network from Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe.
Freshman Reili Richardson scored a career-best 14 points – seven of which coming in the fourth quarter – while senior Sophie Brunner stuffed the stat sheet again with a team-high 15 points to go with nine rebounds.
The Sun Devils (9-3, 0-1 Pac-12) were aggressive on the offensive boards, finishing with 22 offensive rebounds to 20 on the defensive end as the team outrebounded the Cardinal 42-31 overall. The Devils capitalized with 22 second chance points, keeping pace with Stanford (11-1, 1-1 Pac-12) throughout the second half despite a stingy defense from the Cardinal.
With four of the last five games between the two programs being decided by a three points or fewer, Friday's contest sang a similar tune with 11 lead changes and eight ties.
After going down by the team's largest deficit of the game at eight points with 4:41 remaining, the Sun Devils responded with an 8-2 run behind a couple of and-ones from Richardson and Quinn Dornstauder to cut the lead to 58-57 with 1:19 left.
Trailing 59-57 with 20 seconds left, Dornstauder was called for a foul on Erica McCall's three-point attempt with the shot clock winding down. McCall knocked down all three of her attempts from the line and effectively put the game out of ASU's reach.
Brunner's layup with 2:13 left in the third quarter would give the Sun Devils a 42-41 lead before the Stanford ripped off a 7-0 run to close the frame and take a lead it wouldn't relinquish in the fourth quarter.
The Sun Devils led through much of the first half, shooting over 40 percent from the field against a Cardinal team that had limited opponents to just 23 percent shooting in the first halves of its previous four games combined. Brunner led the way on 4-of-4 shooting with eight points in the half but a 7-2 Stanford run to close out the second frame sent the Devils into the halftime locker trailing 32-31.
Stanford's Karlie Samuelson led all players with 16 points while McCall added 12 of her own behind her 8-of-9 effort from the free throw line.
The Sun Devils will return to Pac-12 action on Sunday for a New Year's Day tilt against the 21st-ranked and currently undefeated California Golden Bears at 3 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network from Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe.