The Oregon women’s basketball team likes to play fast.
Indicative of its fast pace play, the team will need a quick turnaround after falling to Oregon State 88-80 in the 91st edition of the Civil War. The team will travel to Corvallis Monday for a rematch with the Beavers (9-6, 1-2 Pac-12).
In the first half, the Ducks controlled the tempo of the game. Oregon (9-5, 0-3) jumped out to an early 19-7 lead, using their speed and quickness to attack in transition and force Oregon State into turnovers.
“I liked the pace in the first half,” Oregon head coach Paul Westhead said. “I told our team at halftime if  you do the same pace, we win.”
To Westhead’s chagrin, the halftime break appeared to take a toll on the Ducks’ high-tempo. Oregon slowed down, and the Beavers took advantage.
Showing composure against Oregon’s press defense, the Beavers were able to move the ball up the court and find open shooters. Oregon State guard Sydney Wiese put on a show from three-point range, hitting seven on the night and scoring 23 points.
“If they’re hitting threes, the lead is going to get away,” freshmen guard Chrishae Rowe said.
When Wiese wasn’t scoring, it was center Ruth Hamblin who was in charge of putting points on the scoreboard. Coming into the game, Hamblin averaged six points a game. She shattered that mark on Saturday night, scoring a career-high 27 points and snagging 16 rebounds.
The change in pace from the first half, to the second, changed the whole course of the game. Something the Ducks need to improve on before playing the Beavers again on Monday.
“Not being able to push the ball, that really hurt us,” Oregon forward Jillian Alleyne said. “Not being able to push the ball contributed to not making shots, and to not rebounding. Three of our biggest factors that help us win games, we didn’t do this game. We need to do that to come back and win.”
Improving on such a systematic element of its attack can’t be easy. However, Oregon won’t have much time to address its problem.
“We know what we did and we know the way we play, and we know that we did not play that way for 40 minutes,” Rowe said. “Tomorrow we’re going to go in, fix what we did not do, and try and get a win on Monday.”
Deciphering how to control the tempo of the game to reflect how Oregon wants to play could be a complicated process. For Westhead, however, the answer is quite simple.
“The answer is play faster,” he said.
Follow Joseph Hoyt on Twitter @jhoyt42