Before the rout Monday night, the Arizona State women gathered in their usual pregame ritual, swaying in a circle, but with guards Dymond Simon and Danielle Orsillo stationary in the middle.
Simon was wearing a knee brace after suffering a major injury 10 months ago, Orsillo was nursing a sprained right ankle.
While Simon is progressing nicely, even helping to spark the 15th-ranked Sun Devils (2-1) to an 84-38 victory over Yale Monday night, Orsillo will be facing even more time off.
Simon got 21 minutes of court time on Monday, scoring 17 points and sparking a 34-2 run in the first half.
But Orsillo, who set a career-high with 21 points in the Sun Devils’ season opener against North Carolina, has been ruled out for a month with a bone bruise on her knee.
“We’re basically hoping that the bone bruise heals itself and after a month we can basically progress her back,” ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said after the game.
“Hopefully we will have her back for the Pac-10,” Turner Thorne said. “She is very tough young lady. Poor kid. She’s got the ankle and she’s got the knee — it’s a good thing she is so strong in the upper body. She’ll get some serious callouses on her hands from the crutches.”
Orillo sat out Saturday’s win over UC Santa Barbara after the knee swelled up following the North Carolina game Nov. 11.
Turner Thorne said after Monday night’s game doctors have told Orsillo to keep weight off the knee.
A junior from Oroville, Calif., Orsillo averaged 9.9 points, playing in all 36 of the Sun Devils’ games in 2006-07.
She was expected to be a key shooter off the bench this season. She made 3 of 6 from beyond the arc in the loss to North Carolina, scoring 16 points in the first half as the Sun
Devils stayed close to the Tar Heels before losing by 15.
Luckily for ASU, another shooter, junior Kate Engelbrecht, returned to action on Monday after a hand injury, playing 15 minutes and getting a pair of assists and a pair of steals.
Still, ASU will miss another scorer with Orsillo out.
“It’s tough because Danielle had an awesome game against North Carolina. She is definitely one of our better scorers on our team so that hurts,” guard Briann January said.
In Monday’s game, Simon also grabbed five rebounds, had three assists and led eight scorers during the first-half spurt that began after Yale (0-2) scored two early baskets.
