On Monday, Nov. 3, ASU recorded 27 points in the fourth quarter in its win over Coppin State. Saturday, Nov. 8, that fourth-quarter performance spread to a 22-point third-quarter outburst, helping propel the Sun Devils to a win over Eastern Washington.

ASU head coach Molly Miller said the reason for her squad being able to come out of halftime and perform the way they did came down to how coachable her players are.

“When we’re making adjustments, they understand,” Miller said. “I get nods and eye contact in the locker room, and I trust them to go out there and execute some minor adjustments that we’re making.

While the Sun Devils’ second-half performance was a key factor in Saturday’s win, Miller said she wants to see better first-half performances moving forward.

“A quick start would be nice,” Miller said. “I think we did a lot better of a job today, but the defense is where we need to start. We held them to nine points and that’s when our offense has a little bit of room for error when your defense is so good.”

Miller rolled out an intense press defense to begin the game and forced 19 turnovers, leading to 22 points scored off those mistakes. 

Miller said forcing more turnovers was one point of emphasis during practice for her coaching staff and team.

“We wanted to score more off our turnovers this game,” Miller said. “When we force a turnover, we want to strike right away. If you’re going to work that hard to get a team to turn it over, you want to be able to convert.”

On offense, fifth-year guard Gabby Elliott scored her 1,000th career point today – Elliott scored 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting in 31 minutes on Saturday. 

Elliott has spent the past five seasons in college, battling through a variety of injuries and playing for different programs, but said she hasn’t let adversity get the better of her.

“Coming off of an injury, you don’t really know what’s going to happen, let alone two,” Elliott said. “It just means a lot. I came a long way and I know that all the people around me have been amazing. It’s been a journey for sure and I am not taking it for granted at all.”

Miller praised Elliott’s will to battle through adversity and said she knows how big this moment is for her.

“I’m proud of her because that’s a lot of resilience and perseverance in that kid,” Miller said. “That 1,000 point mark, that club’s elite and so now she’s one of the elite.

While Elliott surpassed 1,000 points in her collegiate career, freshman guard Amaya Williams notched her first points of her collegiate career. Miller said that Williams was ready whenever she heard her number get called.

“I’ve watched her practice and so in my mind, I’m like yeah she could come in and make a difference right away,” Miller said. “Especially with how our roster makeup formed, we don’t have a lot of point guard options outside of (Last-Tear) Poa that’s played a lot.”

Despite winning by double digits, Miller said she wants her defense to limit opponents to single-digit scoring in every quarter; however, her team needs to improve at shooting free throws, as the Sun Devils shot 13-for-26 from the free-throw line.

“We were more consistent offensively each quarter,” Miller said, “so that consistency is good to see. So we’re going to shoot a lot of free throws in the coming practices because we left some points on the board there.”

ASU travels to San Diego on Nov. 13 to play the Toreros of San Diego. Miller said it will be an adjustment, given that it is the Sun Devils’ first road game of the season, but believes that she has prepared her team well for it

“Going up to NAU was helpful so we could practice a road routine and what it looks like in terms of shoot around, meals and study hall,” Miller said. “You have to do all the things that you would do here because there’s still students on the road so that’ll be our first crack at it.”