Sun Devils rout Black Knights at home
The Arizona State University women’s basketball team tallied a new season high in points as the squad routed Army, 83-46, Dec. 20, at Wells Fargo Arena.
Junior forward Janae Fulcher led all scorers with 15 points while freshman guard Promise Amukamara matched a career high with 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting, all coming on the fast break.
ASU’s 37-point margin of victory was its largest this season as the team held Army to just a 32 percent shooting percentage from the field as the Black Knights (6-6) had their lowest-scoring game of the season. The Sun Devils forced 23 turnovers in the game and outscored Army 48-16 in the paint.
Army had led the Patriot League in scoring defense coming into the game, holding its opponents to just .349 from the field on the year. ASU shot an impressive 55.7 percent from the floor on Tuesday in route to scoring the most points by any team against the Black Knights this season.
Arizona State (8-2) started the second half on 10-0 run after a big first half and never looked back. Ten Sun Devils found their way in the scoring book and none had less than four points. Jada Blackwell (14 points) and Micaela Pickens (11 points) joined Fulcher and Amukamara as the Sun Devils scoring in double digits.
The Sun Devils used a dominating first half effort to put the game out of reach early as an Olivia Major trey with 24 seconds left in the period capped a 7-0 run that gave ASU it’s biggest lead of the frame and sent the team to halftime with a 42-21 lead. The 42 points were the most in a first half this year for the Sun Devils.
ASU was 18-of-29 from the field in the half with 11 points off turnovers while adding 22 points in the pant to Army’s 10 and holding the Black Knights to just 34 percent shooting for the half.
Arizona State fell behind early courtesy of turnovers and bad shot selection as the Black Kights took a 4-0 lead through the first three minutes. Amukamara gave the team a much-needed spark off the bench though; completing back-to-back three point plays to put ASU back on top, 6-4.
The Sun Devils offense and defense came alive at that point, forcing 10 Army turnovers in the first eight minutes of the game and converting them for 14 points to jump ahead 18-12 with 11:37 to play in the first half.
Jen Hazlett and Jessica Waggoner led the way for the Black Knights, scoring 11 points a piece.
The Sun Devils will be back in action after the holiday as they take on the University of Texas-El Paso at Wells Fargo Arena, Dec. 28, at Wells Fargo Arena.