Williams started off the second quarter blazing, with the Sun Devils only up one. Williams played stout defense, scored six points in a minute, and grabbed three rebounds.

When the offense was slow, Williams was there all night; her calm presence and demeanor, rare for a true freshman, were showcased this afternoon. 

“I am so proud of her,” head coach Molly Miller said. “She has looked like a true point guard out there. What is great about her is her tempo. She does not need to go a million miles an hour … She is really good at setting her teammates up and she is steady, she does not get too sped up which for a freshman, that is really impressive.”

The Arizona State Sun Devils defeated the Little Rock Trojans 59-41 at home. 

The 41 points allowed were ASU’s lowest points allowed since 2021, when they beat Northern Colorado. The win also extends the Sun Devils' unbeaten streak, moving them to 7-0 on the young season. 

The Sun Devils started slow. Coach Molly Miller’s squad was stout defensively from the opening tip, but offensively, they only scored 10 points in the first quarter, shooting only 42% from the field and even trailing 5-2 through five minutes of play.

ASU had one of its sloppier runs, turning the ball over six times in the first. 

In the second quarter, Miller’s squad had a fire lit under them. After scoring only 10 first-quarter points, the Sun Devils scored 15 through the first five minutes of the second quarter. 

Alongside Williams, senior guard Marley Washenitz was leading the charge on both sides of the ball. Washenitz generated multiple steals and Williams, alongside junior guard Deborah Davenport, earned the start entering the second half of play because of their defensive efforts.

“I am not going to coach effort,” Miller said. “We were really better when you (girls) were in the game because of (your) defensive intensity. So I think you have to reward what you are preaching. So if you are going to preach effort and hard work, and they go out there and do it, then you should reward that.”

The defensive energy and effort of the entire team were impressive and helped keep the Trojans at bay. The biggest issue, the maroon and gold continue to get beaten at times by the three-ball. The Sun Devils outscored Little Rock in the paint, only allowing 16 points inside, but got outscored 15-to-6 on the perimeter. 

Arizona State got big-time production off its bench, outscoring Little Rock 28-to-11 in that category. 

“I challenged our bench,” Miller said. “We did not have a lot of bench points coming off the UNLV game … I think that confidence will help, that we should actually increase our intensity and increase our pace when we do sub. I think it is really helpful when our bench gets involved early.”

After collecting 62 rebounds — 23 of them on the offensive glass — the Sun Devils struggled to collect rebounds, collecting an equal amount as Little Rock on Friday. This is the second time Arizona State has tied its opponents or trailed in the rebound category this season. 

Both Little Rock and ASU collected 35 rebounds, and Little Rock outboarded the Sun Devils on the offensive glass 11-to-9. 

The Sun Devils struggled from three again, going 2-for-10 with Washenitz and Williams making the only two threes. Senior guard Gabby Elliott was held in check by a stout Trojan defense as she only scored five points and collected four rebounds. The Sun Devil offense was held to under 60 points for the second time this season.

The Arizona State Sun Devils will look to build on the strong overall defensive effort and build offensively as they stay home at Desert Financial Arena to square off against the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks, to try and move to 8-0, Saturday, Nov 29 at 6:30 p.m. MST.

“This is what it is all about,” Miller said about the support from other head coaches like Kenny Dillingham, who was cheering on the Sun Devils before his Territorial Cup match-up in football later that day. “The support for one another across the board.”