ASU Basketball: Why Cal Win Was Crucial for Women's Team

After suffering a defeat versus Stanford, ASU basketball bounced back Sunday picking up a 2OT win over Cal. It was a huge win given the Pac-12 landscape.

It was a chaotic opening weekend in Pac-12 women’s basketball. It all began with Washington’s ridiculous second quarter last Tuesday versus Washington State in which the Huskies outscored the Cougars 32-6, including a 26-0 run. The chaos really ensued on Sunday.

Washington went to Corvallis to face Oregon State in a match-up featuring two Women’s Final Four participants from last season. The Beavers were ready to play as they held a 27 point lead in the third quarter only to see the Huskies mount a massive comeback. Washington would end up falling up short to Oregon State 73-70.

Following that game, it was Arizona State versus Cal. The Sun Devils entered the game with an 0-1 Pac-12 record after suffering a seven point loss in the hands of Stanford. Coming into Tempe was California, who were undefeated entering the game and were led by one of the best players in the nation in sophomore forward Kristine Anigwe.

It was a back-and-forth game that took two overtimes to decided the winner, but the Sun Devils, led by the seniors, came away with the win, their first in Pac-12 play.

It was a crucial win for the Sun Devils given how deep the Pac-12 is. In today’s AP Poll, there are six ranked teams with Colorado on the cusp of rejoining the rankings.

The Pac-12 has never been deeper, and it’s essential to win on your home court considering the competition level.

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Arizona State was at one point facing the reality of an 0-2 start to Pac-12 play with both losses coming at home. But the Sun Devils kept fighting and were able to to pull out the win thanks to their great defense in double overtime.

The Sun Devils are now 1-1 in Pac-12 play, 10-3 overall, joining a glut of teams at 1-1. Just to show how deep the Pac-12 is, only three teams made it unscathed during the first week of Pac-12 play.

Arizona State now will head to the mountain schools for Utah and Colorado, two games the Sun Devils will be favored to win. Utah were undefeated entering Pac-12 play, but they went 1-1 last weekend losing at UCLA and winning at USC.

ASU’s second opponent, Colorado, fell out of the rankings Monday after they lost both games at USC and UCLA. The Buffaloes entered last week ranked No. 20, but a 25-point loss at USC and a 13-point loss at UCLA caused them to fall out of the Top 25.

The Sun Devils were thin this past weekend after news broke that freshman forward Jamie Ruden needs foot surgery and will miss the remainder of the season. Freshman guard Kiara Russell has missed the last six games for Arizona State with an injury, but head coach Charli Turner Thorne said she hopes Russell can return this weekend.

If the Sun Devils can win both games this weekend, and defeat Washington State on Jan. 13, they would be sitting comfortably at 4-1 before entering the gauntlet of their schedule with games versus Washington, Cal, Stanford and UCLA.

Arizona State would be in prime position to be at the top of the conference, as getting a Top 4 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament will be beneficial to have the best route to the title game. It should be interesting to see how Arizona State looks in couple of weeks.