The return of Maddie Scherr for Oregon women’s basketball could not have been more timely.

Scherr, the Ducks’ best perimeter defender, missed the team’s last game at Utah and was listed as questionable for Thursday night before she powered the Ducks to a 63-60 victory over UCLA. 

“I don’t know. I don’t know. I stay out of the training room,” head coach Kelly Graves said of Scherr’s availability on Wednesday afternoon. “She has been limited in practice and really hasn’t done anything full-contact yet. Even if she does play, she’s not going to be at 100 percent.”

The Bruins, boasting two of the Pac-12’s top five leading scorers in Charisma Osbourne (17 PPG) and IImar’I Thomas (15.5 PPG) relentlessly attacked the offensive glass, pulling down five first quarter offensive rebounds.

Hoping to ignite his defense and keep the Bruins off the offensive boards, Kelly Graves played all of his forward and center personnel to no avail. The Bruins corralled an additional six offensive rebounds in the second quarter, resulting in 14 first half second chance points. Behind a 13-point first half from Jaelynn Penn, UCLA led 32-31 at the intermission. 

The Bruins jumped out with a 5-0 run out of the break. Penn continued scoring, tacking on another 5 points and Thomas – who had a quiet first half – scored 9 points, getting 4-of-7 field goals to drop in the quarter. 

Despite giving up 57% field goal shooting, the Ducks hung around. Potential WNBA lottery pick Nyara Sabally and Sedona Prince battled Thomas and co. off of the offensive glass, eliminating extra possessions for the opportunistic Bruins. The two combined for 27 points and 27 rebounds.

“Bend, don’t break,” Prince said. “Other teams are gonna go on runs, they are gonna get up on us… we’re gonna trust each other and make those plays to win games.”

Ducks offensive facilitator Te-Hina Paopao, who had a rough first half shooting 0-of-6, flipped the switch in the second, going 3-of-4 from the field in the third quarter. She finished with 9 points and 5 assists while holding Osbourne to single figures. 

The Ducks entered the fourth quarter trailing by 3. Their every punch was met with a UCLA counterpunch. The Bruins needed the win to remain eligible for an at-large bid to March Madness.  

To start the quarter, Prince cut the Bruin lead to 1 with a put-back layup. On the ensuing possession, Sabally blocked a Thomas jumper before working high-low with Prince for a layup of her own. The Ducks had their first lead of the half. 

A 3 from Paopao followed by another Sabally block made it look like the Ducks were going to gain some momentum until the rebound rolled to Thomas who knocked down a 3 of her own as the shot clock expired. 

Trailing by 1 with a minute to play, Scherr entered as Endyia Rogers stepped to the line with an opportunity for the Ducks to regain the lead. Rogers knocked down both free throws before Scherr, playing through injury, clamped Osbourne, forcing a heavily contested missed layup and a turnover on the next UCLA possession. 

“We weren’t exactly sure we wanted to play her tonight,” Graves said. “But she’s that important to us and we have that much confidence in her even if she’s at 60 percent… She’s so tough.”

Off of Scherr’s forced turnover, Sabally made a pair of free throws and pushed the Oregon lead to three. 

Penn would miss a desperation 3 as time expired, and the Ducks escaped with a victory.

The Ducks will meet the winner of Utah and Washington State in the Pac-12 semifinal Friday at 8:30 p.m.