Reili Richardson was great yet again when it mattered as No. 22 Arizona State women’s basketball snapped a three-game losing streak with a 62-59 victory over Washington State on Friday in Tempe.
Richardson had a team-high 22 points, 13 of which were in the fourth quarter, on 6-11 shooting, including 3-5 from three-point range. The senior guard also had five rebounds and five assists. She is now six assists away from breaking Briann January’s ASU assist record.
Richardson was 3-3 from the field, 2-2 from three-point range and 5-6 from the foul line in the fourth quarter.
It was not the first time this season Richardson has turned on the jets in the later stages of games. She scored 17 points after the 1:39 point in ASU’s triple-overtime win over USC on Jan. 31. She also had clutch fourth quarters while battling an illness in ASU’s upsets of Oregon and Oregon State early in Pac-12 play.
“Yeah, It’s just like a switch flips in me…like you need to go, do the little things, work hard…,” Richardson said.
ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said her bench playing well allowed her to save Richardson for the fourth quarter.
“…I thought our bench did a good job,” Turner Thorne stated. “I didn't have to overplay Riley too much. And I was able to leave her in the fourth quarter.”
It was not just Richardson contributing to the win for the Sun Devils, now 17-8 and 7-6 in the Pac-12. Forward Ja’Tavia Tapley dropped 14 points and grabbed six rebounds as the graduate transfer had her first big night since her 20 points in the previous meeting against the Cougars on Jan. 19.
“She got blocked early and then I thought she kind of settled down and set things up a little better…,” Turner Throne said. “She had a really good offensive game…”
ASU got out to a great start, shooting 48 percent from the field in the first half. The game was close for most of the first half until ASU held Washington State without a field goal for the last 5:04 of the second quarter to lead 29-21 heading to the break.
The Sun Devils led by as much as 12, 33-21, in the third quarter but ended up shooting 4-18 (22.2 percent) in the period. Washington State clawed back as the Cougars went 8-8 from the field down the stretch in the third. The game was knotted up at 38 heading to the final period of play.
Washington State would continue its push in the fourth quarter, taking its first lead of the game since leading 4-2 with 8:07 to go in the first quarter, when Chanelle Molina made a layup with 8:25 to go to give the Cougars the 42-41 lead.
After a couple of lead changes, Washington State’s Ula Motuga hit a three with 3:20 left to tie the game at 50. This is when Richardson would do her thing, hitting two three-pointers to make the score 56-50 with 1:57 left. While the Cougars were able to cut it within one, Richardson made her free throws down the stretch and a late steal by Kiara Russell, back after missing last weekend with an injury, helped ASU pull out the victory.
“…One thing we did do is just stick together and stay positive with each other,” Tapley stated. “And when things were getting tough and getting hard, we made sure we focused on just staying together and finishing strong. Anything could happen. And so we made sure we took that.”
Washington State, now 11-14 and 4-9 in the conference, was led by a game-high 24 points by senior forward Borislava Hristova.
ASU plays Washington at noon MST on Sunday at Desert Financial Arena. No. 11 Oregon State was upset by USC on Friday which gives ASU a chance to move into sole possession of No. 5 in the Pac-12 standings if UCLA defeats Oregon State on Sunday.
