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TEMPE, Ariz. -- Life changed for the Arizona State women's basketball team Nov. 25.
The 15-year-old brother of senior forward Aubree Johnson, who was in the U.S. Virgin Islands with his family to see his sister and the Sun Devils in the Paradise Jam Tournament, died in his sleep of an enlarged heart.
The championship game against Rutgers was canceled because of Jordan Johnson's death, and the path of a promising season -- 11th-ranked Arizona State is 9-1 going into tonight's outdoor game at Chase Field against Texas Tech -- turned down a new road.
"It brought a new passion to our game," senior forward Emily Westerberg says. "We're playing for more reasons than ourselves now."
Adds junior point guard Reagan Pariseau, "It really put life in perspective. It taught us to value the gift we've been given."
The small but explosive and up-tempo Sun Devils were a tight team before Jordan died, bonded by shared hopes, minutes (11 average between 11 and 25), points (six average nine or more) and unselfishness (they lead the nation in assists).
But the loss brought the team closer -- even when it was split up. Westerberg and Pariseau, who played with Johnson on AAU teams growing up in the Northwest, attended memorial services for Jordan Johnson in Post Falls, Idaho.
That night, without the three starters, the Sun Devils reached deep into their bench and their hearts to beat Northern Arizona and win the ASU Classic.
"I was so proud of them and their resiliency," says coach Charli Turner Thorne. "We found it within ourselves in terms of our energy and effort."
Turner Thorne, in her 11th season at Arizona State, has turned the program into a national championship hopeful. The Sun Devils have played in the NCAA tournament four of the last six years, but this could be her best team.
It unquestionably is her deepest and most high-powered.
The Sun Devils go two deep and are 10th in the nation in scoring (79.8 points) and eighth in field goal percentage (50.1).
"This is my first team where the offense is ahead of the defense," Turner Thorne says.
Westerberg, two-time first-team All-Pac-10, sets the tone, averaging a team-high 15.7 points on 62% shooting. She averages only 21.1 minutes, but embraces the team theme.
"Just look at the stats," she says. "There's always going to be a girl to step up. No one is going to average more than 25 minutes, and people don't complain."
Three players come off the bench and are among the team's top six scorers. Sophomore guard Danielle Orsillo is No. 2 in scoring (10.6) averaging 20.7 minutes. Freshman guard Dymond Simon is third (9.7) averaging 18 minutes. And sophomore center Kirsten Thompson, at 6-6 the only player taller than 6-2, is sixth (9) averaging 15.4 minutes.
The signature of this team, however, is its run-and-gun style. The Sun Devils are loaded with perimeter talent and three players who can play the point: Pariseau, Simon and sophomore Briann January, who is enjoying a breakout season averaging 9.6 points and a team-leading 4.4 assists.
"We love to run," Westerberg says.
Only now, they're running on a different track.
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