Grand Canyon women’s basketball held Arizona State to 17 points in the second half in securing a 70-59 win at the Basketball Hall of Fame Series at Footprint Center on Thursday.
GCU guard Alyssa Durazo-Frescas posted 22 points in the win, including 14 in the second half. ASU was led by Tyi Skinner’s 15 points.
ASU (1-2) had one of its best halves in the young season and led 42-33 over the Lopes at the half. GCU’s offense had a rough start with just three field goals on 12 attempts. The Lopes struggled in the first half, shooting 9-for-26 (35%), while ASU went 13-for-32 (41%).
But the game quickly turned when GCU seized an 8-0 run at 4:39 in the third quarter to take its first lead. From there, all the momentum shifted and ASU couldn’t find help with its scoring.
GCU scored 10 unanswered points from the end of the third quarter to the beginning of the fourth as Durazo-Frescas hit two 3-pointers in the fourth, including a second-chance shot.
“I just felt like the second half, there were key rotations where we overhelped and left the shooter open,” ASU coach Natasha Adair said.
Adair added that the 19 turnovers were uncharacteristic. The Sun Devils committed 14 of those in the second half.
ASU had a distinct size advantage over GCU, but the small ball from the Lopes took over the game as ASU’s bigs fell into foul trouble. GCU won the rebounding battle, 41-39.
“A lot of foul trouble early because the littles were attacking,” Adair said. “We had to adjust in that aspect and not put our bigs in that position.”
Starter Jalyn Brown fell into foul trouble again, forcing ASU to rely on its bench. Brown played sparingly with eight points on 3-of-7 shooting in 16 minutes.
The Sun Devils went 2-for-12 (16.7%) in the fourth quarter, while the Lopes went 4-for-12 (33.3%) with three 3-pointers. ASU struggled to get to the line in the final quarter and went 0-for-2 on free throws.
ASU will return to play on Saturday against SMU at Desert Financial Arena at 3:30 p.m. GCU travels to No. 25 Oregon for a 7 p.m. game on Monday.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU women’s basketball falls flat in second half against GCU
