Amanda Levens didn’t need external motivation Monday night.
She figured it out all on her own, to the tune of 17 second-half points against a Stanford juggernaut that was upset by Levens’ Arizona State team, 70-63 in the inaugural Pacific-10 Conference championship game.
A day after leading the Sun Devils to a come-from-behind win over Oregon with 16 second-half points, Levens led the comeback charge again in the title game.
Her spurt in Sunday’s semifinal came after Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne berated the senior guard in a huddle. But on Monday, the conference title provided enough motivation.
“She didn’t say anything today,” Levens said as she laughed alongside her coach after the game Monday. “We just talked about starting strong in the second half, and we came out and did that.”
With the Sun Devils down by nine points early in the second frame, Levens took the ball and took over the game. With 17:59 left, Levens drove on Stanford’s Lauren St. Clair and drew a foul. She made both free throws to cut the Cardinal lead to eight. Minutes later, Levens drove and hit a jumper to pull Arizona State within three points.
“The way they were playing up on our post players, it was allowing us to get to the basket pretty easily,” Levens said.
Levens’ biggest points came with 12:24 left in the game. The senior was fouled on another drive to the basket, made the first free throw but missed the second. An Arizona State player grabbed the rebound on the missed free throw and dished it back to Levens, who hit a long three pointer to put the Sun Devils up 46-42. Stanford never led after that four-point play.
“Levens really stepped up big for them,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said after the game.
Levens was honored along with teammate Melody Johnson as a member of the All-Tournament Team. Levens finished with 22 points and averaged 17 points per game during the tournament. The point guard had only seven turnovers on the weekend and only one in the championship game.
Arizona State’s monumental upset Monday night cannot be quantified. Stanford lost only one game all season, to then-No. 2 Tennessee. Turner Thorne said her team’s victory came from guts and emotion.
“This is the toughest group of kids I’ve ever been around,” Turner Thorne said. “It’s a credit to Amanda and the other kids that they were able to make those pressure shots down the stretch.”
For Levens, it was all about zoning out the pressure and focusing on pure basketball.
“Personally, I didn’t even pay attention to the score,” Levens said. “We were more poised than we’ve ever been.”
The next step for Levens and the Sun Devils is the NCAA Tournament. Arizona State locked up an automatic bid by winning the conference tourney.