Charli Turner Thorne: “We’re Just Completely Devastated” about Injury
In our weekly look at the ASU women’s basketball team, a split by the Bay pulled ASU within a game of the Pac-10 title. But an injury to their leading scorer has the Sun Devils on thin ice heading into the postseason.
(Photo courtesy Arizona Republic.)
Last week (1-1, 23-7 overall, 15-3 Pac-10): ASU 63, Cal 41; Stanford 77, ASU 68.
What We Learned: ASU lost its chance to clinch a tie for the Pac-10 regular-season title with its loss to Stanford on Saturday, a defeat that snapped the Sun Devils’ team-record 15-game win streak.
But the outcome of the game became secondary as soon as point guard Dymond Simon (pictured above) injured her left knee in the first half. Head coach Charli Turner Thorne said that the team’s leading scorer tore her anterior cruciate ligament, which would be the second such injury Simon has sustained in the past two years. Quoth Turner Thorne: “We’re all just devastated. We’re just completely devastated.”
Star of the Week: Danielle Orsillo is one of several Sun Devils who will have to increase her offensive production to make up for the loss of Simon, and the guard had two good games over the weekend. In the Sun Devils’ pounding of No. 9 Cal last Thursday, Orsillo tallied 13 points, three rebounds and two assists, and against the second-ranked Cardinal, she had 12 points and two assists.
What’s Next: The Sun Devils had to settle for the third seed in this week’s Pac-10 Tournament in Los Angeles and will take on USC, the sixth seed, on Friday. The tournament starts Thursday and runs through Sunday.
ASU handled the Ladies of Troy in the teams’ previous meetings this season, but the Sun Devils will have to adapt quickly to life without Simon.
Quoth Turner Thorne: “We have a very talented team and we have a lot of depth. This is why you have depth and this is why I play a lot of people. If you do lose somebody, you’re ready for that. I think we might have to redefine ourselves a little offensively because Dymond was our leading scorer and everything went through her. She created a ton for us on offense.”
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I think a 3rd place finish in the Pac-10 is the reasonable expectation, with a possible second place finish is Simon were available. With or without Simon I think that ASU wins one game in the NCAA tournament.