TEMPE- The Arizona State Sun Devils women's basketball team continues to build on one of their best starts in program history, defeating the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks, 85-56, at home on Saturday.
Sophomore forward Heloisa Carrera led the Sun Devils with a double-double, scoring 21 points and grabbing ten rebounds in 30 minutes of play throughout the game.
“It feels great, we played together," Carrera said postgame. "Our coach, she talked to us in the end, she said that's how we want to play every time, playing together, sharing the ball, looking at each other every time, so it feels great.”
Another player who achieved a double-double in Arizona State's blowout win is graduate guard Last-Tear Poa, who had 12 points and 10 assists. It was the first time Poa recorded a double-double in her collegiate career.
More importantly, the Sun Devils took better care of the ball, having a season-low ten turnovers and winning the rebound battle, 46-34.
“This one felt good because it was more complete," Molly Miller said. "The energy never stopped when we subbed. The energy was still there. The third quarter was kind of one of our quarters that we were really looking to turn the tables on, separate a little bit, and that was good for us. I think we scored 29 in the third quarter, and so we've been focusing on that.
"To see those things come to fruition after a lot of talk and focus and practice, you can tell this team is bought in and growing. Very proud of the effort today. It all starts with our defense. We had 27 points off turnovers and then 60 points in the paint. That kind of tells the story of the game.”
Additionally, Arizona State scored aggressively in the paint, winning the battle 60-10, while converting Redhawks' 26 turnovers into 27 points.
Miller enjoys watching the Sun Devils transform defense into offense throughout the season, and as they gear up for conference play starting in December, they have more to develop.
Throughout the last three games, Arizona State's defense has limited its opponents to 21 percent of their three-point field goal attempts.
“Our defense, we say that our defense builds our offense, so being able to defend and then on offense playing together and having chemistry and looking for each other, that's big,” Carrera said.
Poa has a message to the fans who plan on attending an Arizona State women's basketball game in the future.
From Marley Washenitz's game-winning shot, also known as 'Hail Marley,' to the Sun Devils women's basketball having their second-best start in program history, the first year of the Molly Miller era is off to a great start.
“Just being who we are, we're big on culture checks, but by winning, people want to see people win, so engaging the fans more and winning more,” Poa said.
The Arizona State women's basketball team will host the annual Briann January classic at Mullett Arena in Tempe on Dec. 5 and 6. First, they will face McNeese State, followed by San Francisco the following day.