Pac-12 Conference Tournament Day 1 Notebook

Day one of the Pac-12 women’s basketball conference tournament in Las Vegas is in the books. Some notes, observations and analysis on all four games:

(5) Arizona State 66, (12) Colorado 49

This game looked and felt like the first game of day one of a tournament. Colorado struggled to get anything going offensively. Arizona State managed to build a 13 point halftime lead even as leading 3-point shooter Courtney Ekmark shot just 1-of-5 on some pretty good looks.

The game picked up in the third and Alexis Robinson (19 points, 6-of-13 FG, 4-of-9 3PT) and Ekmark (18 points, 6-of-12 3PT) traded triples. Colorado gave ASU fits with their 2-3 zone with Ekmark 3-pointers and offensive rebounds accounting for most of the Sun Devil scoring output.

ASU separated by opening the fourth with an 11-2 run en route to the win. ASU All-Pac-12 forward Kianna Ibis left the game around the 7:00 mark and did not return, which head coach Charli Turner Thorne addressed postgame.

“[Ibis is] okay,” Turner Thorne said. “She banged it really hard. I think it scared her a little bit. But structurally, Diana Padilla, our trainer, said she’s good, and she was available to go back in the game. But I didn’t want to put her back in the game unless we absolutely needed to, and we pretty much got the game under control, so got to rest her a little bit, which was good.”

This marked the end of the road for CU seniors Kennedy Leonard and Robinson, who spoke about coach JR Payne and their decision to stay three years ago upon her arrival.

“I’d run through a wall for Coach J,” Leonard said. “I’d do anything for her, and I think we all would, and I don’t regret my decision to stay for a second, and I know [Robinson] doesn’t, either. It hasn’t been the easiest road, but easy times don’t make the greatest people; tough times do. If anything comes out of this, I know we’re all going to be pretty tough people.”

(8) Arizona 76, (9) USC 48

The game got away from USC quickly as Arizona’s seven-point first quarter lead ballooned to 23 by halftime. USC senior guard Aliyah Mazyck picked up a second foul late in the first and the Wildcats tacked eight points onto their lead with Mazyck on the bench.

Cate Reese (19 points, 11 rebounds) showed exactly why she was named to this season’s All-Freshman team with a post bucket, spot up 3-pointer and blocked shot in quick succession to close the first half.

“Sometimes I think it’s kind of hard, and I’ve gotten used to being undersized, and like my coaches always say, doing your work early, trying to make sure they don’t get the ball so I’m not put in the position to have to guard them one-on-one,” Reese said. “I mean, I think I’ve grown a lot as a player. When I came in here, I couldn’t play defense at all. So, I mean, I’ve definitely gotten better in that aspect.”

Arizona head coach Adia Barnes made sure to interject to clarify, noting her highly touted freshman had simply been playing more high school-level defense.

“But I definitely think I’ve improved, and my teammates, they pick me up, they taught me a lot, Reese added. “I think I’d give it all to them from where I’ve gone, especially on defense. I’m ready for tomorrow, and I think my team is, too.”

Arizona will need everything they can muster for the Ducks, who blew them out by 33 and 29 points in their two regular season meetings, on Friday.

Finally, USC head coach Mark Trakh addressed the idea of his team receiving a postseason bid. USC had appeared as a “Last Four Out” team in a Thursday edition of Bracketology by ESPN’s Charlie Creme, making a blowout loss doubly devastating to anyone that may have caught wind of that glimmer of hope.

“We don’t deserve to be in,” Trakh said. “Let’s end that conversation right away. That conversation is over. We would be fortunate to get an invitation to the WNIT, so there is no case to be made.”

ASU will play UCLA on Friday. The Bruins won the lone meeting between the two this season in Tempe.

(7) Cal 77, (10) Washington State 58

Washington State came to play after Cal’s Kristine Anigwe had famously ripped them to shreds days earlier with a 32 point, 30 rebound performance. The Cougars trailed by two at the half and by seven after three.

They “held” Anigwe to 27 and 16 this time around. Recee Caldwell and Kianna Smith combined to shoot 5-of-12 from deep for the Bears.

Chanelle Molina (22 points, four assists) lived at the rim for much of the game for WSU, going right at Anigwe in pick and roll to get to the basket or collapse the defense before kicking it out.

Cal gets a rubber match with Stanford on Friday. Meanwhile, WSU saw Molina emerge as a No. 2 scoring option to pair with Borislava Hristova.

“I think what we do is really hard to guard,” coach Kamie Ethridge said. “I just think we’ve got to put more pieces together for us to be really effective, and like I said, compete at the level that these great teams do in this league.”

“It’s been a process for me,” Molina said. “I haven’t run this type of offense before, and just every game is different, different reads, different read reactions. So every game I have to adjust and just learn what I can do better coming off of screens, coming off of step-ups, looking to pass the corner, hitting the pocket pass.

“I’ve just taken it in and kept learning and trying to get better at it. I feel like now I know what I need to do, and in the offseason I’m going to just keep getting better at it. I’m as determined as ever to help this program.”

(6) Utah 54, (11) Washington 64

If you either left early on Thursday night or waiting to arrive until Friday, you missed a fun one as the Huskies upset the short-handed Utes. Missy Peterson (23 points, 8-of-13 FG, 6-of-8 3PT) came up big for UW despite a poor shooting night by leading scorer Amber Melgoza. Peterson hit one of the biggest shots of day one late in the fourth.

Washington had failed to get a shot up coming out of the final media timeout, then Utah proceeded to rip off four straight.

“I’ve had a few possessions this year where the shot clock winds down, and I’ve passed it and not taken my shot,” Peterson said. “But that was when Utah was going on a big run, and they got within single digits, and hadn’t scored in a while. We knew we needed a bucket, the shot clock was winding down.”

Friday’s game against Oregon State should be a good matchup for freshman big Darcy Rees, who spoke postgame about adjusting in her first college season to the wide array of versatile bigs in the Pac-12.

“I think every week we’ve gone against a really quality opponent in the big position, so it’s been a really great learn experience for me,” Rees said. “And Hannah Johnson teaching me so much on defense, and how to defend a different style of play every week. But it’s just adapting, reading what the player is good at, and learning how to work around that.”

12 Things: Awards, Pac-12 Conference Tournament Preview

Ben Dull previews the Pac-12 women's basketball conference tournament and puts a bow on the regular season with his awards picks.

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