Against a once familiar opponent, the Arizona State women’s basketball team dominated Oregon State in a 79-60 win at Desert Financial Arena on Sunday.
Kennedy Basham had a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds) with six blocked shots and Tyi Skinner finished with 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting as the Sun Devils rolled.
The Beavers went as far as the Elite Eight last season, but since the Pac-12 underwent significant changes, the Beavers are a vastly different team. Three of last season’s biggest contributors left via the transfer portal.
ASU (3-2) held a 21-point lead after the third quarter, which prompted coach Natasha Adair to play most of her starters sparingly in the fourth quarter.
ASU exploited the Beavers’ gaps early and held the Beavers to shoot 26.7% with eight field goals on 30 attempts in the first half. The Beavers finished 19-for-60 (31.7%). ASU held them to three 3-pointers on 23 attempts (13.0%).
“We have scorers, we have offensive execution, but we get our energy from defense,” Adair said. “You got to see that on display against a really good Oregon State team.”
Oregon State still had size in the starting five and offered the first true matchup for Basham, ASU’s 6’7” power forward, as starter Sela Heide is 6’7” and Kelsey Rees is 6’5”. The two logged fewer minutes than the other starters, though, as Basham made a big impact.
“Defensively, it kind of gets me going,” Basham said. “It’s exciting to play other girls that are my size so it’s better competition to go out and play them.”
Even with a depleted roster, the Beavers forced ASU to switch its rotations several times in the first quarter. Jalyn Brown, who had 25 points the day before, had two traveling calls and two personal fouls that disrupted her rhythm. She found her way eventually and finished with 12 points, going 2-for-3 from beyond the 3-point arc.
The Beavers scored seven straight points to take a 9-6 lead, but the Sun Devils responded with an 11-0 run to end the first quarter and didn’t look back.
The momentum continued in the second half as ASU shot 14-for-28 to finish the game connecting on 30-of-61 (49.2%).
The Sun Devils will have a week off before heading to Nashville for the Coast2Coast Music Classic for Thanksgiving. ASU will play No. 20 Kentucky on Tuesday, Nov. 26, and South Dakota on Wednesday, Nov. 27.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU women’s basketball routs Oregon State at home
