Oregon needed to stop the Huskies.
After going on a seven-game losing streak, the Ducks won the final two games of the regular season heading into the Pac-12 Tournament with their March Madness hopes still in the air. They couldn’t afford for the Huskies to take the game into their hands, yet that’s exactly what happened. The Huskies went on a 13-0 run after only having four points the majority of the first quarter.
With 2:30 left in the first half, guard Endyia Rogers stopped Washington’s scoring run with a three from the top right corner. In the next possession, she followed it up with a simple coast-to-coast layup to bring the score within three.
Rogers put the Ducks on her back with her fifth 20-point game and a double-double with 28 points and 11 rebounds, a career high, and led them to a 52-50 must-win game over Washington.
“We knew that this was a win or go home game,” Rogers said. “I wasn’t ready to leave.”
Oregon started the first quarter off with a 6-0 run. The Huskies had a hard time getting around center Phillipina Kyei, who played tight man-to-man defense in the front court, forcing Washington to commit two shot clock violations.
Kennedy Basham, who missed most of the season with a right knee injury, has been slowly playing more minutes and making the most out of them. Right before the Huskies scored their first basket halfway through the first quarter, she had a block underneath the basket to give the Ducks another opportunity to build onto their lead.
Up until the final minute of the quarter, Washington only had four points. After a deep three from Huskies’ forward Haley Van Dyke, they brought the score to within three.
Once the second quarter started, Washington started to out-rebound the Ducks, and after a 13-0 scoring run, the Huskies took the lead.
“We have to rebound better,” Oregon women’s head coach Kelly Graves said at halftime. “We were giving up too many points off of easy rebounds.”
After missing the last three games due to a right foot injury, Grace VanSlooten ended the scoring run with free throws. The Ducks were held scoreless for six-and-a-half minutes, one of their longest ones all season.
“Having her back was really important,” Graves said. “Rebounding is really important and she’s a part of that.”
Rogers and Paopao started to find their rhythm and brought the scoring gap within two. By halftime, they had 21 of Oregon’s 27 first half points.
Despite the two early shot-clock violations, Washington used the clock to its advantage. The Huskies were patient and waited for the right opportunity to shoot the ball, whereas the Ducks had rushed shots and had a poor shot selection.
Once the team’s returned to the court for the second half, Rogers had another three to take a one-point lead.
Oregon’s energy seemed higher to start the third quarter, but at times it wasn’t beneficial to the Ducks. Kyei went underneath the basket to rebound the ball, but as she was falling out of bounds, she passed the ball to a Husky who immediately laid it up to take the lead again.
For the majority of the quarter, the score went back-and-forth with each team taking a one basket lead, until Van Dyke had her first three of the game. In the final five minutes of the quarter, neither team scored.
The scoring drought carried into the final quarter until Van Dyke added another three for Washington. Huskies forward Dalayah Daniels recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Rogers brought the Ducks out of their shooting slump after knocking down back-to-back threes and Paopao added another three for a 9-0 scoring run before the Huskies called a timeout. During the final three minutes, each team rotated with the lead. Oregon had a one-point advantage until Chance Gray made her second free throw with 2.9 seconds left in the game to make it 52-50, and the Ducks capped off the victory with that stop.
“You’re not doing your job as coach if you’re not feeding the hot hand,” Graves said. “Two of our best players had that hand tonight.”
After winning the first game of the tournament, the Ducks’ March Madness hopes are still alive and they’ll get an opportunity to face a team who is predicted to make a deep playoff run, No. 6 Stanford, Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
