Box Score (PDF)
TEMPE, Ariz. – Junior Hannah Green tallied team highs of 12 points, four rebounds and two blocks in her Redbird debut, but the Illinois State women's basketball team lost its season opener to No. 18/16 Arizona State, 76-40, Friday evening inside Wells Fargo Arena.
The Sun Devils (1-0) tallied the first 11 points of the game and were never really threatened. Senior Taylor Stewart converted an old-fashion three-point play for the first Redbird points of the year, which started a mini 10-5 ISU run, as a layup from Green brought the Redbirds (0-1) to within six, 16-10, at the 2:05 mark of the opening stanza.
But that was the closest ISU would the rest of the night. ASU closed out the opening 10 minutes with a 21-12 lead and took control with a 20-8 second quarter to go into the break leading 41-20 and never looked back.
The Redbirds played much better defense than what the final scored indicated. ISU forced the Sun Devils into 19 turnovers, but the Redbirds gave the ball up 27 times, which led to a 37-13 deficit in points off turnovers. ISU recorded nine steals, with senior Brechelle Beachum, sophomore Katrina Beck and freshman Deja Turner all registering two.
ASU shot 41.8 percent (28-of-67), but only 12-of-33 over the middle two quarters while knocking down 6-of-16 triples in the contest. The Sun Devils also went to the free throw line 22 times and made 14.
"I thought there were times when we really looked together on both ends of the floor," head coach Barb Smith said. "This was a great game for us to begin the season with. We'll learn a lot from this one. We didn't do a good job keeping ASU off the boards, and we turned it over too much."
Offensively, the Redbirds shot 34 percent (16-of-47), missed all six of their three-point attempts and made 8-of-13 from the charity stripe. They were also outrebounded, 50-26. Green scored her 12 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field. Beachum added nine points on 4-of-6 shooting, while Stewart chipped in eight points.
ASU's Armani Hawkins led all scorers with 14 points, while Sophie Brunner added 11 points and seven rebounds.
ISU's season-opening road trip continues when they head to Chicago, Illinois, to take on UIC Monday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. inside the UIC Pavilioin.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
