It wasn’t pretty, but the Oregon Ducks were able to defeat the Grand Canyon University Antelopes 64-56 after Chance Gray secured the win with two free throws late in the contest.
Oregon was led in scoring by Grace VanSlooten, who finished the night with 21 points on 8-16 from the field and added nine rebounds. Phillipina Kyei had a great game as well, tallying 13 points and 16 rebounds in the win. Gray, who entered the game as the second leading scorer for the Ducks on the season, finished with 11 points but shot 2-15 from the field, her worst mark of the season.
Both the Ducks and Antelopes struggled mightily from the field and from three-point range all night. Sofia Bell went 3-7 from deep in the game, but the rest of Oregon’s players combined to shoot 0-7 bringing their percentage as a team down to just 21.4%. GCU shot slightly better, making seven of their 28 attempts from the arc.
Turnovers seemed like they might plague the Ducks once again this game. An ugly first quarter saw six Oregon turnovers and 2-11 shooting as the Ducks took a 9-8 advantage into the second quarter. From there, Oregon took better care of the ball and had just six turnovers across the final three quarters. Seven of the 12 Duck turnovers came from VanSlooten, her worst so far.The game seemed like it might take a turn for the worse in the third quarter. GCU made three shots from behind the arc in a two minute stretch in the middle of an 11-1 run to cut the Oregon lead to just two points. However, the Ducks fought back and went on a 10-0 run of their own to put some distance between them and the Antelopes. Oregon never looked back from that point on, maintaining about a ten point lead for the rest of the contest.
The defense from the Ducks was impressive throughout the game. GCU shot just 30.8% from the field and 25% from three. Oregon also was able to force nine turnovers. The Ducks were below their season averages in both steals, which they recorded five of, and blocks, of which they had four. However, the lack of fouling, even in a gritty and grind-it-out game such as this one, is worth noting. The Ducks fouled just 15 times, compared to 22 from the Antelopes.
Despite the poor shooting from Oregon, their ability to hold off GCU on the back of strong defensive play shows promise moving forward. The Ducks will face the Santa Clara Broncos in their next game in Matthew Knight Area, which will tip-off at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 18.
