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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Â
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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