TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Arizona State women’s basketball team opened the 2012-13 season on Sunday at Wells Fargo Arena, falling to the Texas Tech Lady Raiders 61-49.
ASU’s Promise Amukamara had 10 points and seven rebounds, but her effort was not enough, as the Lady Raiders used several clutch runs down the stretch to pull away for the victory.
Texas Tech (1-0, 0-0 Big-12) had four players score in double digits, led by Casey Morris’ 15 points.
The Sun Devils (0-1, 0-0 Pac-12) finished 20 for 52 from the field while the Lady Raiders knocked down nearly 50 percent of their shots, going 25, for 52, and dominated the paint in the effort, outscoring ASU 42-26 down low.
Joy Burke had five blocks for ASU and was the team’s second-leading rebounder with five. ASU also had nine blocks and outrebounded TTU 40-27. The Sun Devils had 22 turnovers, however, and Texas Tech capitalized by outscoring ASU 22-13 in points off turnovers.
It was a game of runs in the second half as Texas Tech came out and knocked down back-to-back treys to start the half that set off a 10-2 run to give the Lady Raiders a 38-27 lead with 16:07 left.
The Sun Devils responded with a 13-4 run of their own though – keyed by six straight points from Jada Blackwell - to climb back within one with 11:42 left in the game.
Just like that, however, the game shifted back to the Lady Raiders’ favor as they went on a 15-0 run of their own to go up 55-41 with under four minutes remaining and never looked back from there.
The Sun Devils distributed the points around evenly, with eight players finding their way on to the scoresheet in the first half alone, led by Amukamara’s six first-half points.
Both teams struggled with turnovers in the first half, with a combined 18 coming in the frame. Arizona State had 11 of those, resulting in 10 points for the Red Raiders.
The teams struggled offensively in the first half after a back-and-forth first 12 minutes that saw the both squads netted at 16 with 7:49 left in the half. Neither team would score a field goal for the next 3:09, however, before Casey Morris of TTU knocked in a jumper to give Texas Tech a 21-16 edge.
The Raiders would pull away by as much as eight in the waning moments of the half, leading 28-20 with 1:40 left. The Sun Devils answered on the heels of an Amukamara layup and a Arnecia Hawkins three just before the bell to bring the halftime score to 28-25.
