ASU WBB: No. 16 Sun Devils devastated in L.A.

The No. 16 Sun Devils finished out their L.A. road trip Sunday, and lost a tough one to an unranked USC 50-65.

It all came from a lackluster fourth quarter; The Trojans outscored ASU 23-13 in the fourth. They built off the momentum from a Minyon Moore buzzer beater to end the third quarter, with that shot the Trojans went up 42-37 and never looked back.

After the buzzer beater, Arizona State came out with little energy and USC ran all over them. ASU started coming dumb turnovers and getting beat on 50/50 rebounds, losing the defensive rebounding margin by three.

USC outshot ASU in field goal percentage (54.4- 37.7), three point percentage (22.2- 44.4), and free throw percentage (66.7- 100). This is odd for the Sun Devils, usually when they lose the shooting battle, its because the frontcourt didn’t get the ball, but not on Sunday.

Sophie Brunner (14) and Quinn Dornstauder (13) were ASU’s top two scorers, but only went a combined 10-24. The Devils had a good game plan, giving the ball to their best players, but Brunner and Dornstauder did not deliver.

Brunner has been the Devils’ Superman this season, but late in the game she wasn’t able to control the block, finishing with only four rebounds, and getting bested in the points in the paint, 30-20.

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It wasn’t just the frontcourt that had a tough day, the starting guards of Sabrina Haines, Reili Richardson, and Robbi Ryan finished with 11 combined points while committing seven turnovers. They started making lazy passes late, leading to easy scores for the Trojans.

Since the injury to Kelesy Moos, the Sun Devil defense has really dropped off. Without her presence, the Devils have gone out starting 3 guards, and usually there is at least one mismatch with one of the guards on a forward.

The guard play has been lackluster since Reili Richardson cooled off, no one has been able to take control of the very young backcourt. The lack of depth and inexperience has shown as many of these players are playing their first full season and settling for low-percentage shots.

ASU will most likely fall out of the rankings after losing their last three. Their schedule doesn’t get much easier, playing three ranked opponents in their next four games. The Sun Devils will need to turn things around quickly if they want to have a chance in the Pac-12 and NCAA Tournament.

Next: ASU WBB: Arizona State Can’t Complete Comeback Against UCLA

This week, ESPN came out with the early tournament seedlings, and ASU came in as the last four seed, which would give them a home game in the first and second rounds. That seems unlikely after this weekend.