Arizona State successfully adjusted its defense after a big first half from Harberts. (Jon Kondrath/USC Sports Information)

After the game, Cassie Harberts held her hands over her head and was enraged about her team's performance on the defensive end.

“We had breakdown after breakdown after breakdown,” Harberts said after the game. “Too many turnovers, like three or four in a row, and they converted on our mistakes.”

Adrianne Thomas put the nail in the coffin, hitting a critical layup with 34 seconds to play and completing the Arizona State comeback. The Sun Devils scored 40 points in the second half, after being limited to 20 points on 32 percent-shooting in the first half.

Offensively, the Trojans could not get any offensive rythym from the field scoring 17 points on 24 percent-shooting from the field. That however was not head coach Michael Cooper’s biggest concern from the lackluster performance.

“Once again we didn’t knock our free throws down and it cost us the win tonight.”

The Trojans shot 40 percent from the charity stripe in the second half, deflating any chance to corral the Sun Devils 23-point swing. The Women of Troy shot 83 percent from the line in the first part in large part due to their cornerstone forward, Harberts. 

Harberts received a standing ovation before the game for eclipsing 1,000 career points as a Trojan. She passed the benchmark on Jan. 13, the Trojans' last home game, a game in which they won 61-59 over Washington State.

Harberts backed up the achievement in an impressive manner, dominating the first half with 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Women of Troy. 

The only true blemish on Harberts' resume from the first half was a missed free throw with 22 seconds left. The free throw would have given her 20 points, matching the entire Arizona State scoring output at the time.

The Trojans' second-leading scorer from the regular season, Ariya Crook, could only muster five points on 2-17 shooting from the field. Crook's struggles were noticeable but what made the biggest headline was the fact that Cassie Harberts went silent in the second half. 

Arizona State was fronting the junior forward, making life difficult for entry passes to fuel her post game. Harberts did not even attempt a shot until 10:12 left in the second half. 

Stymying Harberts was key in creating the fast-break opportunities for the Sun Devils to carve into the double-digit lead. Arizona State went to the basket in the second half, scoring 20 points in the paint. 

Joy Burke and Janae Fulcher drove to the basket with authority in the second half, propelling the Sun Devils' attack. The two combined for 17 points on 8-10 shooting from the field.

To further spark the attack, head coach Charli Turner Thorne went to a 10-women rotation in the second half. This led to 20 points from the bench in the second frame, led by Haley Videckis with seven points. 

Videckis hit two clutch free throws with 1:20 left to give Arizona State the lead that it would never relinquish. From that point forward, USC committed three turnovers to close out the game and could not score another point.

“Give credit to Arizona State," said Cooper. "They stuck with their game plan and played their style of basketball in the second half."

Turner Thorne won her 300th game tonight in her 16th season as Sun Devil head coach. The victory pushes Arizona State's Pac-12 record to 3-4 with a trip to No. 19 UCLA remaining on the trip.

The Women of Troy, meanwhile, have now lost three straight games heading into their next matchup against Arizona on Sunday. At 7-11 overall and 4-3 in conference, the Women of Troy will need to find balanced scoring if they want to return to their winning ways.

Reach Staff Writer Evan Budrovich here, or follow him on Twitter.