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ASU Basketball: Marie Gulich’s 36 points sinks Sun Devils

By Sam Ficarro

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 11: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky the Sun Devil stands on the court during a first-round game of the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament against the USC Trojans at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on March 11, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. USC won 67-64. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 11: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky the Sun Devil stands on the court during a first-round game of the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament against the USC Trojans at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on March 11, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. USC won 67-64. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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ASU women’s basketball dropped the regular season finale blowing a 10-point halftime lead against No. 12 Oregon State.

The third quarter this season has been Arizona State’s Achilles’ heel, specifically against the top teams in the conference.

With Arizona State controlling the first half offensively and defensively, the Sun Devils built a 10-point halftime lead.

Then Marie Gulich went off.

The Beavers’ senior center had the best game of her career scoring a career-high 36 points on 16-of-18 shooting en route to a comeback win for the No. 12 team in the country 64-60.

Head coach Charli Turner Thorne doesn’t have an answer for her team’s struggles in the third quarter, where ASU was outscored 23-11 Sunday.

“I think I’m going to find a hypnotist or voodoo doctor and figure out how to break the curse of the third quarter,” Turner Thorne said. “It hasn’t always been the third quarter, but most of the time I think when we’ve been in these games that we know we could win, we just have this stretch when we shoot ourselves in the foot, and we had it again today unfortunately.”

Gulich was perfect in the second half scoring 30 points on 13-of-13 shooting as her 30 points represented 68 percent of Oregon State’s output in the second half.

Arizona State had no answer for her defensively with center Charnea Johnson-Chapman and forwards Sophia Elenga and Kianna Ibis defending Gulich throughout the game.

“We were trying to play [Marie] Gulich a certain way, and we weren’t doing that,” Turner Throne said. “Got to love Charnea [Johnson-Chapman]. She came up to me and gave me a hug after the game and goes, ‘I’m sorry coach. Sorry about my post defense and let’s work on it tomorrow.'”

It’s another frustrating result for the Sun Devils after building a 32-22 halftime lead where ASU shot 42 percent having created 10 more shot attempts and forcing 10 turnovers.

Despite winning the turnover battle, the Sun Devils were beaten on the glass 31-28 while the Beavers shot 74 percent from the field in the second half compared to ASU’s 32 percent.

Robbi Ryan, who finished tied with a team-high 13 points, suffered an ankle injury in the fourth quarter when landing after a 3-point attempt.

When asked about the injury, Ryan said, “It’s been better.”

Elenga had one of her best games for the Sun Devils tallying 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting. When asked if she’s getting more comfortable on the offensive end, Elenga kept it simple.

“It’s just open looks,” Elenga said. “I’m just taking what the defense is giving me and not trying to force anything and today, it was going in. It was nice.”

Next: ASU Basketball: Sun Devils fall to Oregon at home

Arizona State finishes the regular season 19-11 and 10-8 in Pac-12 play. The Sun Devils will be the No. 6 seed in the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament and will face the 11th-seeded Arizona Wildcats in the first round Thursday.

All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.