The Arizona State women’s basketball team canceled games against No. 10 Utah State and Colorado State due to a lack of healthy scholarship players. The match is officially forfeited and will not be made up.
“After meeting with our doctors and medical staff, we have come to the conclusion that we will not be traveling to Utah and Colorado this weekend. We know the games are going to be canceled, but the reality is no decision has been made,” Arizona said. state coach Natasha Adair said in a statement. “There are very few healthy scholarship players who have time to heal and that is our only option. Our plan is to keep our team healthy this week and ready when we host Arizona on Jan. 22.”
The Pac-12 conference requires at least seven scholarship players to be available, and while the Sun Devils are not currently specifying which players are missing, the team has been dealing with multiple injuries. Among those injured were Isadora Souza, Maggie Besselinck, Imogen Greenslade, Moraza Wiggins and Jella Robinson. It’s been a rough season for ASU, as the team holds a 7-11 record and has lost all seven division games so far.
“We are very sad for the team that wanted to play, but due to the medical situation we were unable to play. Admittedly, this is a very unusual situation that requires us to make the health of injured and healthy players our main focus, “ASU Vice Chancellor for Athletics Ray Anderson said in a statement.
If enough scholarship players are healthy, the Sun Devils will host in-state rival Arizona on Jan. 22, their second meeting of the season. The Wildcats won 84-66 in their final game on Dec. 29.
Arizona State isn’t the only team dealing with injury issues. The UConn Huskies were plagued by injuries for the second straight season and had to postpone their Jan. 8 game against DePaul.
