Arizona State women's basketball makes history with consecutive upsets of top-5 teams

For most of the nation, Arizona State women’s basketball came out of nowhere to beat two top-five teams over the weekend.

The Sun Devils were unranked, although receiving votes in both major polls, and not on the radar nationally to beat either No. 2 Oregon or No. 3 Oregon State, let alone both in a stunning sweep they completed Sunday with a 55-47 win over the previously undefeated Beavers.

But a program that’s made 19 postseason appearances in the past 20 years under Charli Turner Thorne doesn’t lack for internal confidence, and that only went up in the preceding week with a down-to-the-wire, final-shot loss at No. 8 UCLA.

“We’ve been playing better,” Turner Thorne said. “I definitely felt good we could have success this weekend. Both of them are great programs, but so are we.”

ASU is the first unranked team in NCAA history to beat top-five opponents in the same weekend in at least 20 years and perhaps ever, a statistic still being researched. The last ranked team to do it in the regular season was Stanford in 2010. Ranked Notre Dame pulled off the feat in the 2018 NCAA Tournament.

ASU closes with 10-2 run

Oregon State scored seven consecutive points to pull even at 45 with 2:40 left at Desert Financial Arena, the first time ASU had not led since late in the first quarter.

But the Sun Devils didn’t blink, outscoring the Beavers 10-2 down the stretch starting with a Robbi Ryan reverse layup and ending with six straight free throws by Reili Richardson in the final 37 seconds.

Oregon State was 1-5 shooting after 45-all, missed two free throws and committed two turnovers.

“Coach made sure she told us they get no more” after a Destiny Slocum 3-pointer, senior forward/center Ja’Tavia Tapley said. “We made sure we played as hard as we can on defense.”

“We’re tough,” Turner Thorne said. “We’ve had close games and played a tough preseason schedule. We had a couple of timeouts, but we’ve got veteran guards that know how to come down and execute and get the shots we want. I did think we showed great poise,” even after Ryan fouled out with 2:09 left.

Keeping up in the post

ASU (13-4, 3-2 Pac-12) is showing its has a higher ceiling than anticipated with a team that had to rebuild its post game after personnel losses from a 2018-19 Sweet 16 team. That hard work paid off against taller Oregon State (15-1, 3-1), which starts 6-4 and 6-6 freshmen Taylor Jones and Kennedy Brown.

The Beavers occasionally worked a mismatch vs. Jones in their favor, notably for consecutive layups late in the third quarter. But they finished with just a 32-26 edge in paint points despite a 47-37 rebounding advantage.

ASU’s 6-3 Tapley and 6-2 Jamie Ruden combined for 23 points and 10 boards compared to 15/20 for Jones and Brown.

“We were faster and we could dribble around, we just made sure we used that,” Tapley said.

“Charli really emphasized getting our box-outs,” Ruden said. “And talking extra on the screens because when you have a huge post player setting a screen on a little guard, you’ve got to talk that out so we don’t get crunched.”

Four straight over Oregon State

Oregon State guard Mikayla Pivec, projected as a WNBA first-round draft pick, and Jones had double-doubles (13/10 and 11/13) with Slocum adding 13 points.

For ASU, Tapley led with 14 points and six boards. Ryan and Richardson scored 10 each helping the Sun Devils to a fourth straight win over the Beavers.

“We always have great games with them,” Turner Thorne said. “Both teams are always really good defensively so both teams are used to being able to position themselves to win, then it’s just who kind of steps up and takes it.”

Turner Thorne did more five-player substitution than usual, resulting in a 13-4 bench scoring advantage.

ASU senior guard Kiara Russell returned after missing the Oregon game with a foot injury, rejoining the starting lineup and playing 27 minutes. “If our starters had to play 27-29 minutes, I don’t think we would have won this game,” Turner Thorne said. “I just told them I’m going to sub liberally so just play hard because we’re not beating this team if they don’t play hard.”

Up next

ASU goes on the road next week against Washington (10-5, 2-2) on Friday and Washington State (9-7, 2-2) on Jan. 19.

Reach the reporter at jeff.metcalfe@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8053. Follow him on Twitter @jeffmetcalfe.

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