LOS ANGELES - - After two nail-biting losses to top-25 teams in Arizona and UCLA to open Pac-12 play, the Arizona State women’s basketball team pulled out its first win of the conference season on Sunday, defeating USC (8-6, 0-3 Pac-12) 63-54.

“Every road win in the conference is a great win,” ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said.

It was the first conference win of the season for the Sun Devils (11-4, 1-2 Pac-12) and the first win of the new decade for the program.

The Sun Devils were propelled by forward Jayde Van Hyfte. The sophomore tied her season-high with 12 points on 5-7 shooting before fouling out for late in the quarter No. 4. She was tied for second on the team in the game with three rebounds while also adding two assists and a steal. She was the only ASU player in double figures in the game.

“They were playing a little bit off of me tonight and Charli said before the game that if they do that then I just need to drive and attack…,” Van Hyfte explained.

Turner Thorne praised her forward’s effort, especially defensively.

“(Van Hyfte) was great and I’ll have to look at the film and see some of those fouls,” Turner Thorne stated. “I thought she did a great job on (Alissa) Pili most of the game…”

It was not a perfect game at all for the Sun Devils as they were outrebounded for the first time all season. USC grabbed 36 boards to ASU’s 30 and had a 24-16 advantage in the defensive rebound category. The Sun Devils shot just 4-22 from three-point range.

However, the Sun Devils were able to force 21 USC turnovers and finished with 27 points off of them. They led USC 27-6 in points from turnovers. Seven ASU players finished with at least one steal in the game.

It was the return to her old stomping grounds for graduate-transfer Ja’Tavia Tapley, The forward played her first three seasons at USC before transferring to ASU in the offseason.

Tapley did not play exceptionally but did have six points and was tied for a team-high with four rebounds as she got revenge on her former school.

“It was a team win so most importantly, I just thank my team for playing as hard as we could,” Tapley stated.

It was a rocky start for the Sun Devils. ASU trailed 9-6 at the media timeout with 4:52 to play in the first quarter.

After the timeout, the script flipped for nearly the rest of the game and the Trojans scored just two points for the rest of the quarter.

“I think anytime we huddle and get organized our team does really good at that…,” Turner Thorne said.

ASU doubled the lead heading to halftime after holding USC to 3-11 shooting in the second period and led 36-24 heading to the third quarter.

In the second half, USC made it interesting. After a Robbi Ryan jumper made the game 58-38 with 8:06 to play in the fourth quarter, the Trojans, led by 11 points in the fourth quarter from the freshman standout Pili, came back to cut the lead to eight twice with 2:00 to go and 1:10 to go.

It was a little too late as ASU hung on to win 63-54 to go into a weekend at home against No. 2 Oregon on Friday and No. 3 Oregon State on Sunday with a Pac-12 win under its belt.

“…Obviously really happy of our team,” Turner Thorne said. “We kind of took charge of the game…in the first quarter, middle of the second quarter and I thought we…stayed in charge of the game the whole way.”

Van Hyfte and Tapley both stated how important it was to have a Pac-12 win under their belts before the games against the two powers from the Pacific Northwest.

“It feels good,” Tapley said. “Now we focus on getting more and more and more…”

Van Hyfte echoed Tapley.

“It’s nice to have a win before (Oregon and Oregon State). “But this upcoming week is going to be really tough…and we just (have to prepare) and probably work the hardest we’ve ever worked.”