ASU Women’s Basketball: Sun Devils take down the Trojans in Los Angeles

The Sun Devils earned their first Pac-12 win of the season, taking down the USC Trojans, 63-54.

ASU (11-4, 1-2 Pac-12) bounced back from a tough road loss at No. 10 UCLA on Friday with a strong showing against USC.

In the first five minutes of the game, the Trojans (8-6, 0-3) came out quick as they had a 11-6 lead over the Sun Devils.

ASU was able to figure things out in the final five minutes of the first. Defensively, they forced nine Trojan turnovers and went on an 11-0 run.

The 11-0 run gave the Sun Devils the lead and they would never look back. As a team, ASU shot 27-65 from the field (41.5%), forced 21 turnovers and had 27 points of turnovers. Another highlight was the Sun Devil bench performance, the bench unit outscored USC 30-4.

USC, with its third consecutive loss, put up a strong fight in the fourth quarter. Freshman forward Alissa Pili lead the charge as she accounted for 14 of the teams 17 points in the fourth.

Pili finished the game with 23 points (9-10 free throws) and five rebounds. ASU’s leading scorer was sophomore forward Jayden Van Hyfte. Van Hyfte finished with 12 points and three rebounds but fouled out in the fourth.

In her first game since transferring from USC, senior forward Ja’Tavia Tapley finished with six points and four rebounds. Tapley didn’t have one of her dominate performances against her old school. She will get another chance at the end of the month.

ASU spilt the Los Angles road series but also win their first game at the Galen Center, for the first time since February 26 2016.

The Sun Devils return home to take on two highly ranked opponents in Oregon State and Oregon.