In an offensive showdown against No. 7 Utah, Oregon women’s basketball team could not get the defensive stops it needed to get the team back in the win column.

The Ducks lost 100-92 against Utah at home, now having lost five of their last six games. They are now tied for eighth in the Pac-12 and their hopes of making the postseason are rapidly fading with only six conference games remaining.
Following a very poor offensive outing against Colorado on Friday, Endyia Rogers scored a career-high 35 points and Chance Gray added 18 points for the Ducks. It wasn’t enough. Oregon could not contain Utes forward Alissa Pili, who had 30 points in her own right. 

Utah had four players in double figures, but Oregon head coach Kelly Graves had especially high praise for Pili. 

“They can all score it and Pili’s the best player in the conference,” Graves said. “I told her after the game, I think she’s the best player and if I had a vote today she would get my MVP vote. She’s what sets them apart.”

For most of the first half, Oregon and Utah were separated by one possession. The Utes, however, pulled ahead after going on a 15-6 run to end the half.

The offense did not slow down in the second half. 

Chance Gray caught fire from three-point range to keep Oregon within striking distance. The Ducks still could not get the defensive stops to pull ahead of Utah.

“It’s kind of been how we’ve done it this year,” Graves said. “On the days we defend pretty well we can’t get it together offensively. And today, offensively we did some good things and we just couldn’t stop Utah.”

With Oregon running out of opportunities to steal the game, the Utes went inside to Pili who made the layup. Graves called a timeout with 57 seconds remaining, down nine. Oregon intentionally fouled Utah on the remaining possessions, but the Utes converted all of their free-throws.

Oregon has a tough test ahead to climb up the standings. It plays on the road for the next two weekends before finishing off Pac-12 play at home against Arizona State and Arizona. With games against USC and UCLA next on the schedule, the Ducks will have very little room for error.

“We’ve dug ourselves a little hole here, we’ve got to win some of these,” Graves said. “Got plenty of opportunities left but at some point, we got to pull some of these out.”