While the Arizona State women’s basketball team (7-9, 0-5 Pac-12) has yet to win a conference game in five tries, progress is visible.

After being blown out by 84-66 on Dec. 29 by Arizona and 101-69 by Stanford on Dec. 31, the Sun Devils’ last three games have been better.

While losing by double-digits in all three games since the loss to the Cardinal, the team’s play has been elevated. Against Cal last Monday, the Sun Devils trailed by just two points heading into the fourth quarter before a disastrous 8-point final period led to the 13-point loss.

Against No. 18 Oregon two days ago, the Sun Devils played arguably their best quarter of the season in the first. They led the Ducks 18-15 after one and hung with Oregon the entire first half, trailing just 32-26 at halftime. In the second half, Oregon’s big third quarter propelled the Ducks to a 20-point victory.

Sunday’s game against Oregon State was probably ASU’s best performance of Pac-12 play. The Sun Devils lost 69-59 but if the shots had fallen, especially early in the game as the second half scoring was 40-40, the game might have been a different story.

The team still has some major issues but the shot selection and defensive intensity has improved in a major way since early in the season. The defensive effort was evident Sunday as ASU forced 20 OSU turnovers and while the Sun Devils shot 22-81 (27.2%), the open shots were there. The same could be said for the Oregon game, when ASU had open shots it just was not knocking down.

Now the weaknesses of this ASU team will hold the Sun Devils back the rest of the season. They struggle with players who have great size, like 6-foot-4 OSU post Raegan Beers. Beers had 20 points and 12 rebounds on Sunday and shot 15 free throws, making 12. ASU also seems to have a disaster quarter in each game as of late that keeps the team from being more competitive. Against Cal, it was the fourth. Against Oregon, it was the third quarter when the Sun Devils allowed 27 points. Against Oregon State, while the shot selection was there, seven first quarter points put the Sun Devils in a hole to start the game.

Guard Jaddan Simmons discussed how one quarter a game is holding the Sun Devils back.

“It’s just that one quarter,” Simmons said. “We’ve talked about it. We just got to play for 40 minutes. Right now we’re doing 30. And I think we understand that, we know that and it’s going to take time but we’re looking for a win in conference so we’re ready to play 40 next game and we’re just going to continue to play 40 and play as a team as well.”

As for her assessment of the team, ASU head coach Natasha Adair said the team is continuing to improve.

“I think the team is hungry,” Adair stated. “I think the team is building. I think the team is connecting. What I really think is that they are seeing it. … But what they're able to see, not obviously right in the column that we want right now, but they can see that it's getting better and they can feel that it's getting better and so we're just going to continue.”

The Sun Devils’ next game is on the road at No. 8 Utah (14-1, 3-1 Pac-12) on Friday at 7 p.m. MST.