“The Devil went down to Georgia and he was lookin’ for a soul to steal.” – The Charlie Daniels Band

The ASU Sun Devils came down to Georgia and while they didn’t find any souls to steal, they did manage to find several thousand hearts to break. Arizona State defeated Georgia by a score of 58-47, sending the Lady Bulldogs home one-and-done in the opening round of 64 teams for only the third time in NCAA Tournament history. As was the case in so many games this season, the Lady Dawgs stayed within striking distance of the lead for most of the game (including a late run that cut the ASU lead to seven points with about five minutes left to be played), but they were unable to get that momentum-shifting basket or defensive stop that would’ve electrified the red and black faithful inside The Arena at Gwinnett Center. Throw in a few careless passes that led directly to Sun Devil baskets and the good mojo simply wasn’t there for Georgia today.

In another all-too-familiar scenario for this season, Georgia once again had trouble putting points up on the scoreboard. Porsha, Angela, and Angel led Georgia scorers with only nine points each. You read that right…for the first time in NCAA Tournament history, a Georgia game was played with no Lady Bulldogs breaking double figures in scoring. You really have to give all the credit in the world to ASU. Coach Charli Turner Thorne almost seemed to be flaunting her team’s depth when she subbed three players out a mere 90 seconds into the game. And the Sun Devils were as athletic as any team Georgia has faced this season. They sprung a cutter to the basket on almost every half-court offensive set and exploited Georgia’s backdoor defense early and often.

With their win over Georgia, Arizona State advances to Monday night’s second-round game and they’ll take on Florida State at 7:00 PM (Eastern) for a trip to the Sweet Sixteen. The Seminoles punched their ticket to the second round with an 83-71 win over a scrappy and entertaining North Carolina A&T team. Obviously, we’re all bummed out over the Georgia loss…but if you bought a complete set of tickets for both sessions, please use that Monday night ticket and go enjoy what should be a very entertaining and competitive game between ASU and FSU. It’s a great honor to be hosting the NCAA Tournament this season. The more backsides we can put in the seats, the better our chances are for hosting first-and-second round action in the future…or maybe even hosting a Regional sometime down the road. Again, please…show your support and help provide these two worthy teams with some big-time, NCAA Tournament-worthy atmosphere this Monday night.

Click here for the official recap and a link to the stats and box score.