No.19 Arizona State will take on the unranked Washington State Cougars on Friday. Both teams are entering the game off of three game win-streaks, though the Cougars have so far lost against four of their five ranked opponents this season.
After falling to Stanford in their Pac-12 opener, the Sun Devils recovered by winning their next three games. Their overall record currently stands at 12-3. Meanwhile, Washington State is holding an 8-8 record overall, 4-2 in the Pac-12.
Most recently, ASU went to Colorado to defeat the Buffaloes 71-52. Arizona State out-performed Colorado in nearly every category.
The first of the Devils’ three wins was a particularly difficult double-overtime win against California (final score, 72-62) in which senior Kelsey Moos suffered a plantar fascia injury.
Moos, while struggling offensively this season, is one of the team’s best defensive players and her rebounding and defensive capabilities will be sorely missed. Freshman Robbie Ryan has been starting the past two games, but coach Charli Turner Thorne has stated that sophomore Kianna Ibis will also be rotated into the starting line-up in the absence of Moos.
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ASU is led by seniors Sophie Brunner, who averages 12.3 points and 7.1 rebounds, and Quinn Dornstauder, averaging 9.7 points and 6.1 rebounds. Freshman Reili Richardson has also been making quite the impact and has been getting the most minutes on the team. Richardson averages 9.3 points per game and has a team-leading 61 assists on the season.
On the other side of the court, Washington State is coming off a 74-57 win against USC and an 82-73 win against ranked UCLA. Their three Pac-12 wins are following two consecutive conference losses versus two ranked opponents: Washington University and Oregon State. Both losses were of 20 points or more.
The Cougars are led by sophomore Borislava Hristova, she averages 14.7 points a game, and freshman Chanelle Molina who averages 12.8 points per game and is shooting 43.8 percent from three. Molina has earned the Pac-12 Freshman Player of the Week award in two consecutive weeks in addition to be selected as the Women’s National Freshman of the Week by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association last week.
Next: ASU Basketball: What’s the Impact of Kelsey Moos’ Injury?
Arizona State and Washington State will face-off on Friday, January 13 at 11:00 a.m. MST as part of the annual Sparky’s Kids to College Field Trip. The game can be seen live on the ASU live stream.