WBB Works Overtime to Capture 85-73 Win at BYU
PROVO, Utah – The Sun Devil women's basketball team scored five straight points in the last 45 seconds of regulation to force overtime and then scored 14 of the 16 points in the extra session to defeat BYU 85-73 on Saturday.
Jalyn Brown (17 of team-high 23 points) and Tyi Skinner (13 of 22 points) combined to score 30 points in the second half and overtime to lead the way in the win.
For Brown, it was her 11th 20-point game of the season, while Skinner notched her ninth 20-point outing on the same day she reached and surpassed 1,000 points as a Sun Devil (now has 1,002 points at ASU). Skinner (69 3-pointers this season), who also led the team in assists (six) and steals (four), also moved up to No. 2 on ASU's list for most 3-pointers in a season.
"We have been talking about putting it all together, right? Coming off our last game I thought we played really well against TCU and we've seen our team play really well for 30 minutes, 35 minutes, 37-minutes," said ASU head coach Natasha Adair. "And all I wrote on the board today was win together. And then I said what does that look like. Have each other's back. Make the next play. Pick each other up. Stay together and celebrate each other and I tell you that was on full display today as a team from start to finish.
"This is a tough place to play. The last time we played [BYU] they shot the ball really well so we knew we had to defend the three. They had 42 paint points so we were really trying to keep them out of the paint and I thought we executed the game plan from start to finish beautifully. Really, proud of our team."
Being small in numbers (ASU had only eight players available due to injuries) did nothing to diminish the determination nor the fight the team displayed in the win.
In addition to Brown and Skinner, Nevaeh Parkinson (15 points) and Makayla Moore (season-high 12 points) also dialed up double-figure scoring performances. Moore scored all her points via the long ball as she accounted for half of ASU's eight triples.
One of the biggest indicators of ASU's resilience came on the boards. Although it was edged 43-42 in rebounds, the Sun Devils (9-19, 3-13 Big 12) had a 21-19 advantage in the last 25 minutes of the game. Brown and Kennedy Basham tied for the team lead in rebounds with nine. For Basham, who also scored seven points and had a game-high five blocks, it was the fourth consecutive game she led or tied for the team lead in rebounds.
Also providing ASU with important contributions on the glass were Moore (seven rebounds) and Parkinson (six rebounds).
With the game starting to slip away from them after Brown's jumper with 7:37 remaining, the Cougars (13-14, 4-12 Big 12) turned it up a notch on both ends of the floor. For BYU, the sense of urgency it played with produced a 15-4 run to give them their biggest lead of the game, 69-64, with 2:21 remaining.
With BYU still up five and less than a minute left in regulation, Moore got ASU within two after hitting her third triple of the game.
After getting a stop, the Sun Devils were in position to win or tie. With 12 seconds remaining, Skinner was sent to foul line where she calmly sank both free throws to tie the game. After getting one more crucial defensive stop, the game went to overtime tied at 71-71.
The Sun Devils, who made 61 percent (11-18) of their shots in the fourth quarter and overtime, made sure there would be dramatic finishes by scoring the first nine points of the extra session (going back to regulation a 14-0 scoring run).
At the same time ASU was enjoying its best offensive stretch of the game, BYU was mired in its worst. After missing only two of 10 shots to go up by five in regulation, the Cougars missed their last nine shots of the game.
The first two quarters were almost like two separate games. In the first frame, ASU connected on 47 percent of its shots while limiting BYU to just 19 percent. After scoring six of the first eight points of the second quarter, ASU led 25-14.
BYU's first 3-pointer, nearly 14 minutes into the game, seemed to wake up the Cougars. They would go on to make six in the second quarter to capture the lead at the half, 34-31.
The Sun Devils will play their last road game of the regular season at Colorado on Wednesday (7 p.m. MST) before hosting Arizona in the regular season finale on Saturday at 4 p.m. MST. Click here to purchase tickets for the Senior Day game vs. Arizona.