ASU women’s basketball: Sun Devils handle Maine in first round of Florida Golf Coast Showcase

In a game that saw both teams struggle from the field, Arizona State (4-1) took down the Maine Black Bears (2-4) 57-31 on Friday afternoon in the Florida Gulf Coast Showcase.

ASU’s defense fought through its shooting woes, as they forced 23 turnovers. Maine last year had averaged 11 turnovers per game, and came into today’s contest with 66 turnovers in five games.

In a slow scoring performance in the first half, the Sun Devil offense came to life as they closed the third quarter on a 17-2 run. The spurt started after Maine came within two possessions at 25-20.

One of the key reasons for the Sun Devils to have more open shots was due to a knee injury by Maine (2-4) senior guard Blanca Millan. She only had two points and two rebounds, but her ability to force bad passes left the Sun Devils struggling offensively.

Those turnovers were costly as ASU coughed up the rock 16 times. Maine wasn’t able to make much of the extra possessions as they went 12-39 from the field and only scored six points off turnovers.

ASU did take advantage of Maine’s mistakes, though, as they ended up with 11 more shot attempts than the Black Bears. Having 10 more offensive rebounds (15-5), and finishing with 37 total rebounds, the Sun Devils garnered more shot attempts.

Despite the shooting struggles of both teams (35-99), ASU sophomore guard Taya Hanson lead the game in scoring. She finished with 13 points on 5-8 shooting, while going 3-5 from three-point range and coming up with two steals.

With the win over Maine, the Sun Devils will be playing tomorrow at 5:30 P.M. against the winner of Drake/Purdue.