ASU women’s basketball tips its season off on Tuesday against Northern Colorado with expectations of returning to the heights the program reached when it made six NCAA tournaments in a row from 2014-19.
“I’m excited,” said ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne. “I feel really good about this group. I think we are back to the level that we are used to being at and are going to compete for a Pac-12 championship.”
The Sun Devils are coming off of a season where they posted their worst winning percentage (.500) since the 2012-13 season. They finished just 12-12 (6-9 in the Pac-12), failed to make the NCAA tournament and placed ninth in the conference. They ranked No. 11 in scoring offense in the Pac-12, averaging just 54 points per game. ASU made the WNIT but lost two of its three games.
To improve the offensive woes of last season, Turner Thorne changed the offensive system, which she said was on full display at ASU’s Moonlit Madness showcase on Oct. 29.
“I thought that was a good glimpse of our improved offense,” Turner Thorne stated. “You saw how well we shot the ball and clearly, I don’t even want to reference last year, but we were bad. We just weren’t a very good offensive team last year. And we are much improved.”
Turner Thorne has also brought in transfers who had tremendous success offensively at their previous institutions. They will lead the offensive charge alongside ASU’s leading scorer from last season, senior guard Taya Hanson (12.6 PPG in 2020-21).
Guard Ayzhiana Basallo joins the Sun Devils with two years of eligibility left. At San Jose State in 2019-20, she was the Mountain West Conference Newcomer of the Year after averaging a team-high 18.5 PPG, shooting a school single-season record 45.4 percent from 3-point range and shooting a school single-season record 92.5 percent from the foul line.
Guard/Forward Jade Loville joins the Sun Devils with two years of eligibility left. At Boise State last season, she averaged 17.1 PPG which was second in the Mountain West.
Junior guard Isadora Sousa joins ASU as a junior college transfer after two seasons at Chipola College in Marianna, Fla. Last season, she averaged 13.5 PPG and 4.8 assists per game, scoring in double-digits in 19 of her 25 games.
Forward Mael Gilles transferred to ASU in the offseason from Rutgers. And while her numbers were not off the charts offensively, she still scored in double figures in six of her 18 games a season ago.
According to Hanson, the offense has been leaps and bounds better than last year’s offense in the closed scrimmages ASU played leading up to the season.
“We’ve had some closed scrimmages,” Hanson stated. “ … We’ve killed these teams and our offense looks pretty darn good.”
Last season was not only full of challenges on the court. It was also full of challenges off the court. The season took place during some of the worst parts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The offseason training the Sun Devils did was altered and not as effective as it was in previous seasons.
This offseason, ASU was able to play in the scrimmages, practice without wearing masks and be around each other more to participate in team bonding activities.
“We’re building relationships like 24/7,” said sophomore Maggie Besselink. “It’s an elite team for sure.”
On a negative note, freshman Meg Newman will not play this season. The No. 33 overall recruit in the 2021 class according to ESPN has a torn ACL. Also, Iris Mbulito and Jamie Loera, two players who had been with the Sun Devils the past three seasons, are no longer with the team for medical reasons. Senior forward Jayde Van Hyfte, who missed all but one game last season, remains out and is waiting for clearance to play.
If ASU is going to return to its winning ways this season, it is not going to be easy. On Nov. 26, the Sun Devils face No. 7 Baylor at the Cancun Challenge in Puerto Aventuras, Mexico. In conference play, the Sun Devils face No. 20 UCLA twice, No. 10 Oregon twice, No. 14 Oregon State twice, No. 22 Arizona twice and No. 3 Stanford, the defending National Champion, on the road in Palo Alto on Jan. 28.
With the gauntlet of a schedule the Sun Devils will be playing, ASU will need help from its returners from last year in addition to the transfers. A season ago, ASU relied heavily on true freshmen Besselink, Jaddan Simmons, Katelyn Levings, Imogen Greenslade and at times Sydney Erikstrup. They had their moments but also struggled at times adapting to college basketball.
This year, the young players from last year’s team are coming in following a less unusual offseason and are ready to show their improvements from last year.
Simmons spoke on the progress she has made to be a better player this season.
“I think I made a lot of progress just working with coach Charli and the coaching staff,” Simmons explained. “ … I think this year they’re going to have to really worry about me shooting it, like shooting behind screens and I think that’s just the main thing that I’ve worked on is my shot. And then just creating even more for my teammates.”
ASU’s game with Northern Colorado on Tuesday begins at 8 p.m. MST at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe.
