TEMPE, Ariz. – There is a new sense of optimism in Tempe ahead of the 2025-26 women’s basketball season, with new head coach Molly Miller ready to lead Arizona State into its second season in the Big 12.
ASU finished its 2024-25 campaign with an overall record of 10-22 and a conference record of 3-15, good enough for 15th place.
The Sun Devils must find a way to make up for the offensive production lost after their top three leading scorers from last season, Jalyn Brown, Tyi Skinner and Nevaeh Parkinson, departed the program.
Brown transferred to Michigan State after leading ASU in scoring with 18 points per game. She finished sixth in the Big 12 in that category while also taking the fifth-most field goal attempts in the conference last season.
Tyi Skinner was the Sun Devils’ second leading scorer a season ago, averaging 16.8 points per game, and playing in all 32 games, starting 31. Skinner also led the team in assists per game with 2.8. Skinner transferred to SMU ahead of the 2025-26 season.
Parkinson, the third leading scorer (9.7 points) and top rebounder (6.7), graduated after last season.
Miller will attempt to mitigate the repercussions of the loss of offensive production from those three players with the incoming transfers of three Power Five players, the first being Last-Tear Poa.
Poa, a fifth-year guard from LSU, averaged two points in 15 starts over 30 games last season.
Fifth-year guard Gabby Elliott transferred to Miller’s squad from Penn State University ahead of the 2025-26 season, coming off a year in which she averaged 13.6 points per game in 29 games. The Sun Devils will be Elliott’s fourth program in her collegiate career, playing at Clemson and Michigan State before Penn State.
Senior guard Marley Washenitz played three seasons for the University of Pittsburgh before transferring to ASU this season. She averaged 9.3 points per game and started in all 32 games for the Panthers last season.
In addition to those three power-four transfers, the Sun Devils added University of Denver transfer Jordan Jones, who spent her last three seasons there. Jones averaged 19.9 points per game, second in the Summit League Conference, and started all 30 games for the Pioneers last season.
The Sun Devils' 2025-26 roster consists of two incoming freshman players who could play important roles in their first collegiate season.
Freshman center Martina Fantini is a six-foot-three-inch center from Florence, Italy. She recently played in the U20 Women’s Eurobasket competition this past summer with the Italian National Team. Fantini averaged seven points and 3.1 rebounds per game throughout the seven games Italy played.
The other incoming freshman, Amaya Williams, is a five-foot-eight-inch guard from Mater Dei High School in California. Williams led Mater Dei to 83 wins across three seasons in high school, captaining the program in her senior year to a 29-4 overall record.
Last season, ASU made it to the second round of the Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship after defeating Cincinnati in the first round. If Miller and her squad want to improve upon their 15th-place finish and advance further in the tournament, they will have to achieve more than three wins in conference play.
The Sun Devils’ three Big 12 wins came against Texas Tech, Houston and BYU. This season, BYU is one of the schools that ASU plays twice, once at home and once on the road, along with Utah and Arizona.
Miller’s first season in maroon and gold begins Monday, Nov. 3, in Tempe, as the Sun Devils host Coppin State in the first of two home games, with the second game against Eastern Washington on Saturday, Nov. 8.