Women’s college basketball is finally back. Here’s 4 teams to watch
Women’s basketball is officially here, and there are 4 teams to track who could end South Carolina’s dominance.
The Arizona State women’s basketball team split their first two games of the season in Tempe.
The Sun Devils won the opener Monday with a comeback in the fourth quarter against Jacksonville State, but lost 100-96 in the final minute against Arkansas State.
In her third season leading ASU, head coach Natasha Adair added seven new players, including six transfers. Three starters are new, including guard Kennedy Fauntleroy, forward Kennedy Basham and center Nevaeh Parkinson.
Jalyn Brown shines in second game
There were some first-game jitters for the Sun Devils against Jacksonville State as the Gamecocks led by as many as eight points with 3:48 left in the third quarter.
One of the factors that hurt ASU was guard Tyi Skinner not getting the expected help from Jalyn Brown, last season’s top scorer. Brown took a while to get going and dealt with early foul trouble. She finished with nine points.
She turned around that slow start with 24 points against Arkansas State. Brown dominated in the first half with 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting.
“I just do what they need to me to do,” Brown said. “If it’s a scoring night for somebody else, it’s a scoring night for somebody else. I think that my abilities offensively and defensively set me aside from a lot of great players. Just finding my rhythm early in this game, I felt like I was ready to go.”
With Skinner out with an ACL injury last season, Brown led ASU with 17.3 points and had some defining moments in her sophomore year, including dropping 35 points against Colorado.
It’s been only two games, but as the new team learns each other, it’s expected that Skinner and Brown will make a dangerous combination.
Tyi Skinner scoring watch
The Sun Devils finally got their point guard back after spending last season without Skinner.
Along with Skinner’s leadership on the floor, her 19.3 points per game and 36.6 minutes per game were hard to replicate.
She didn’t hesitate when she returned for the first time, recording a career-high 30 points against Jacksonville State. It was her 16th game with 20 or more points.
“It feels different every year,” Skinner said. “I was just really excited to play with a new team. … I wasn’t nervous or anything like that.”
There’s been a learning curve as Skinner, who last played on March 1, 2023, hadn’t played with any of her current teammates. The team’s leader in assists, she worked her way back with five in the opener and then improved to eight in the next game.
The defense takes a hit
ASU’s defense is going through growing pains as the team finds its identity. ASU had lapses in the opener but kept it close against Jacksonville State.
The woes continued in the second game. ASU surrendered 100 points to Arkansas State, a team that scored 52 points in its opener against Western Michigan.
“I like the 96 points (that ASU scored), I don’t like the 100,” Adair said. “We can fix the defensive side of the ball for sure. When you have a game with 25 assists and 17 turnovers and you have a game with multiple players in double figures, we’ll fix that defensive side of the ball for sure.”
Defending the perimeter has been an issue for the Sun Devils. Jacksonville State went 7-for-28 from beyond the arc in the first game, and Arkansas State had 13 3-pointers on 30 attempts.
ASU hasn’t been able to get it going from the perimeter and has shot a combined 7-for-28 (25%) from 3.
“We were really trying to get the ball inside. I thought that worked,” Adair said. “If it’s a 3 night, it’s a 3 night. Tonight was inside.”
However, the Sun Devils countered Arkansas State’s pressure with 72 points in the paint. Adair isn’t sure if she’s seen that from any of her teams.
“That’s the good stuff,” she said. “In that locker room, you got to tell them the good stuff. You got to tell them where we’re growing.
“There’s 30-plus games left with a brand new team. Experience? Yes. Talent? Yes. But we still got to gel and make sure for us that there’s going to be a whole lot of defense.”
Injury report
ASU has dealt with injuries throughout Adair’s first two seasons, but is mostly healthy to start the season with 10 players checking in.
Transfer guard Jazion Jackson, graduate forward Maggie Besselink, and freshman center Timya Grice haven’t been available for the first two games.
