ASU Women’s Basketball: Sun Devils bounce back in win against Washington State

After a poor performance against the University of Washington on Friday, Arizona State (10-7, 5-7 Pac-12) bounced back with a 67-61 win against Washington State (9-9, 7-9) on Sunday afternoon.

Jaddan Simmons, who only had four points on Friday, all of which were from the free throw line, recorded 15 points, four rebounds and four assists in Sunday’s win.

“We were just playing off of each other and making shots helped us a lot,” Simmons said. “Actually running the floor and trying to get more transition looks is really how our offense works. I think overall, we just did that today.”

For Washington State, Charlisse Leger-Walker had 29 points in 40 minutes of play.

“She [Leger-Walker] is a really good player,” Simmons said. “We just had to play together. Not one person was guarding her. We needed weak side help non-stop and that’s why we got those charges. Just coming quick and early to help was our main focus and we got that done today.”

The Sun Devils shot much better compared to the other day, shooting 42 percent from the field, compared to Friday night’s 20 percent. The Cougars shot 38 percent from the field, too.

“We actually can shoot the ball,” said coach Charli Turner Thorne. “I’m hoping it will just get better from this moment forward if we can kind of just stay centered in where we were at today.”

ASU also out-rebounded WSU 42-24.

“We out-rebounded them and controlled the boards,” Turner Thorne said. “I’ve said from the first game, if we control the boards, we control the game. So we finally learned what that means.”

It truly was a team effort from the Devils, as every player that got playing time was able to score.

“I was really proud of our team’s effort,” said guard Taya Hanson. “We came into the game today and just played with a lot of grit. We played team defense. Offensively, we were reading and playing off of each other and everyone was a threat to score, which I’m pretty proud of my teammates for that.”

The Sun Devils will take on No. 5 Stanford in California on Friday at 8:00 p.m. MST.