TEMPE- A highlight featuring an Arizona State Sun Devil drilling a no-look shot to win the game on Saturday is ranked number one in SportsCenter's Top 10.
Senior guard Marley Washenitz drilled an improbable, no-look three-pointer at the buzzer over two players of the UNLV Lady Rebels to hand the Sun Devils a win over the Lady Rebels.
Ultimately, it was also the first game-winner of the Molly Miller era as Washenitz's prayer was answered when the ball went into the basket.
It is the second time Arizona State began the season 5-0 since the 2002-03 season, in which longtime head coach Charli Turner Thorne was with the team. Their defense has limited the Lady Rebels to 53 points for the first time in 148 games since February 2021.
“I think we’re a really versatile team," Washenitz said postgame. "We have a lot of different pieces, and it can be anyone's night anytime. I think just understanding that, yes, every team's going to have a leading scorer, and [Gabby Elliott) happens to be ours. And respectfully so, she puts in the work to do so. But at the same time, that doesn't mean we need to depend on one player, and we understand that. I think [Elliott] started picking it up when she started on the defensive end and she's very aware of that, as the whole team is.
"A lot of our offense starts with our defense. So when she started rolling and started getting on pace, obviously it helped lift energy for the whole team. But at the end of the day, [Heloisa Carrera] was doing her thing, [McKinna Brackens] was doing her thing. Even the small stuff that goes unnoticed, [Last-Tear Poa's] assists, Jyah’s [LoVett] defense. It's not always necessarily about scoring for us. We found energy in Poa’s charge, that was huge for us. So just small stuff like that, outside of just scoring, that [Elliott] does for us is really, really impactful.”
Throughout the game, the Lady Rebels and Sun Devils had six lead changes, and the game was tied six times between these two teams.
Head coach Molly Miller called another timeout to come up with a play intended for fifth-year guard Gabby Elliott to score a game-winning shot for the team.
Somehow, Washenitz picked up the ball when Elliott was double-teamed and scored a game-winner through a 'Hail Mary' shot.
“It seemed that when we would punch, they would punch us back," Miller said postgame. "It was a back-and-forth game. If you can ride that to the end instead of getting discouraged, that shows the maturity of the team. That back and forth, then all of a sudden we hit a three, and they hit a three (and so on), and then we hit a crazy three. It can take the wind out of your sail, or you can know that this is a game of highs and lows, you’ve got to weather through the ups and downs.”