The Oregon Ducks (11-11, 2-7 Pac-12) found themselves down big against the No. 3 Colorado Buffaloes (17-3, 7-2 Pac-12) going into the fourth quarter. The Ducks came alive to try and force their way back into the contest, but weren’t able to overcome an abysmal first half.
Grace VanSlooten and Phillipina Kyei each had a couple baskets in the middle of an 11-0 run for Oregon that brought the deficit down to just seven points. However, the Buffaloes were able to silence the run and hold off the Ducks for a 61-48 win.
VanSlooten immediately made her presence known after missing the Ducks’ last game. She had six of Oregon’s first eight points in the contest, which helped the Ducks take the lead a couple times in a very close set of opening minutes.
Unfortunately for Oregon, VanSlooten’s six points were only supplemented by two points by Kyei as the Ducks allowed a 6-0 run from the Buffaloes to end the quarter. Colorado led 13-8 at the end of the first frame.
The Buffaloes didn’t let up on the run in the second quarter. They scored the first seven points of the quarter to bring the total run up to a 13-0 Colorado streak. Phillipina Kyei made a pair of free-throws over five minutes into the second quarter to finally break an Oregon scoring drought that lasted over nine minutes.
Those free throws did little to stop the bleeding, however. Colorado immediately went on another 11-0 run to bring the lead to over 20 points. The Ducks’ offense struggled to find any success at all throughout the quarter, going into halftime without making a single field goal in the second quarter. The highly-ranked Buffaloes led 31-11 at the end of the first half.
Oregon had 10 turnovers in the first half which led to 16 points off of turnovers for Colorado. The Buffaloes also had 13 offensive rebounds, and 31 total rebounds, as compared to just 13 total rebounds for the Ducks. The first half was a completely dominating performance from Colorado, and Oregon had slim hopes of keeping up or mounting a comeback.
The Ducks’ big three of VanSlooten, Kyei and Chance Gray had all 11 of the team’s points between them, although they shot just 4-15.
“This whole weekend I thought defensively we played well enough to at least compete, be close and win these games,” Kelly Graves, head coach of the team, said. “We just don’t have enough firepower offensively. It’s a struggle, it’s a grind to try and score.”
Gray was able to earn a lot of chances at the free-throw line in the third quarter. She scored five straight points for Oregon, all on free throws, after being fouled on drives four times in the quarter. Unfortunately, it was not enough to get within striking distance of the Buffaloes who maintained a roughly 20 point lead throughout the free-throw barrage.
Priscilla Williams and Kennedy Basham scored the first points from non-big three players in the quarter, each scoring two points. Those were the only points scored by anyone else, as Gray VanSlooten and Kyei combined for 13 points in the quarter, bringing their total points up to 24 for the game. The Ducks were able to outscore Colorado 17-14 in the third quarter, but still faced a 45-28 deficit heading into the fourth.
Oregon showed some signs of life early in the fourth quarter. The Ducks closed the gap slightly with a 11-0 run in the opening minutes to bring the Buffaloes’ lead to just seven points. The run was highlighted by a 3-pointer from Ula Chamberlain.
“We knew we had to come out and really compete,” VanSlooten said. “We didn’t really compete in the first half. Our attitudes weren’t there, our energy wasn’t there and we came out in the second half with better energy and knew that we could play with this team.”
Colorado was able to silence the crowd and stop the run. A couple baskets were able to put the game out of reach of Oregon despite the late push. A 3-pointer from Gray made the final score look better, but was too little, too late.
“I was really proud of the team and how they competed in the second half,” Graves said. “We just have to do that from the get-go.”
Gray, Kyei and VanSlooten combined for 41 points in the game, leaving just seven points for everyone else. Kyei also added 17 rebounds making this her fourth-straight game with a double-double.
The Ducks return to action for a home game against No. 25 Oregon State (17-3, 6-3 Pac-12) on Feb. 4. The Beavers are red-hot after a weekend sweep of the Buffs and No. 16 Utah. The road ahead for the struggling Ducks gets no easier from here.
