Oregon women’s basketball defeated Northern Arizona 59-47 Friday afternoon inside Matthew Knight Arena despite a brutal power outage.
The win came thanks to the defense, a nice change in the narrative as Oregon (5-3) has at times struggled on that end of the court despite coach Kelly Graves’ persistence in getting stops.
During the game, the arena lost power, delaying the start of the second half. The arena lights went out, leaving only the emergency generator, which wasn’t enough to continue play. During the delay Graves and the Ducks played some 1-on-1 to entertain the fans. The outage lasted 91 minutes.
Northern Arizona (4-4) seemed to handle the power outage better than Oregon. They began to grab the rebounds and outhustle the Ducks out of the break, cutting the one-time 12-point lead at halftime to just three.
Oregon eventually recovered, regaining control of the game.
Leading the way for the Ducks was star junior forward Jillian Alleyne, who finished the night with 20 points and 15 rebounds. It was also her 17^th straight double-double and the 49^th of her career.
Alleyne now has 999 career rebounds.
Tough play from freshman Lexi Bando and senior Amanda Delgado also helped claim the win.
To go along with their poor shooting, Northern Arizona had trouble keeping possession. Oregon forced them into committing untimely turnovers, thanks largely to a stifling full court press.
Another positive sign for Oregon as the team continues to grow and distance themselves from the past few years was a focus on working the ball inside. The Ducks have a bad habit of taking quick threes rather than running the offense. This results in long dry spells, which has allowed the opposition back into games.
Against the Lumberjacks Oregon was more discerning with its shot selection, refusing to settle for contested deep looks.
Oregon is next set to take the court Thursday as they welcome Santa Clara into Matthew Knight Arena.
Follow Christopher Keizur on Twitter @chriskeizur