ASU Women’s Basketball: Sun Devils fall to Creighton after fourth quarter flounder

With the clock winding down in the third quarter, senior guard Jade Loville drove baseline and put up a floater between four Bluejay defenders. The bucket would give Arizona State (5-5) a five point advantage going into the final 10 minutes of action, but its lead would be short-lived.

In what ended up being a 69-62 loss to Creighton (6-3) on Sunday afternoon, the Sun Devils held their biggest lead of the game (seven) just seconds into the fourth quarter. The Bluejays, behind a career-high 23 points from junior Carly Bachelor, would go on to outscore the Sun Devils 28-16 in the final quarter, including a game-high 9-0 run.

Head Coach Charli Turner Thorne has fast substitution rotations, keeping her players fresh and trying to tire out the other team. On Sunday, the glaring discrepancy was points off the bench (19-3 in favor of Creighton).

Junior guard Isadora Sousa had the only three points of the six players off the bench and she only played four minutes. Combined, the second unit shot 1-6 from the field and 1-5 from three.

However, three starters (Loville, Jaddan Simmons and Mael Gilles) ended the game in double figures.

The Bluejays kept ASU at an arm’s length for most of the first half, keeping their lead between seven and nine points. The Sun Devils fought back and outscored Creighton 24-12 in the third quarter, taking their first lead of the game.

Arizona State did a terrific job of crashing the offensive glass and actually won the rebounding battle, which has been a big point of emphasis for Turner Thorne this year.

The team is still without sophomore forward Maggie Besselink, who started the team’s first seven games this season and was out during the ASU Classic. Besselink is still being evaluated on a game-to-game basis per the team and will provide more depth and a rebounding presence (averaging 6.4 rebounds per game) when she returns.

As the non-conference schedule comes to a close, the Sun Devils will head out to San Diego for a Saturday afternoon contest with the Toreros that will take place at 2 p.m. local time.