It was smooth sailing for the Ducks on Wednesday night at Matthew Knight Arena.
The Oregon women’s basketball team topped Warner Pacific 99-46 in the program’s lone exhibition game of the season, setting the Ducks up for their regular season debut on the road at No. 22 North Carolina this Sunday.
The Ducks won with a 3-point barrage, in which they went 15-of-28 from the field, good for 54 percent. Lexi Bando led the Ducks with 17 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field. Lexi Petersen had 16 points for Oregon while Oti Gildon and Maite Cazorla both reached double digits in their UO debuts.
Jillian Alleyne led the team in rebounds with 10 and finished with seven points.
“We had a lot of different people who did good things,” head coach Kelly Graves said. “I was most impressed with how many could impact the game in different ways… Obviously, we shot the heck out of it, which really helps. It was a really nice effort.”
Oregon went on a 20-2 run that spanned through the end of the first quarter and beginning of the second. During the run, Gildon had eight points.
In her Oregon debut, 6-5 center Jacinta Vandenberg tallied six points, but Graves said her impact was most felt through organization Oregon’s many new faces on the roster.
Graves used all 12 of his available players in the win, but he said going forward he may “key in on eight or nine” and “squeeze it a little bit.” Oregon shot 2-of-12 from the free throw line, but shot a combined 61 percent from the field.
Oregon outscored Warner Pacific 17-2 on fast break points and 42-12 on points in the paint. The Ducks also capitalized on 22 forced turnovers, scoring 32 points in return.
“We’ve got basket-protectors, so we can a little bit more pressure on the basketball,” Graves said. “It was good to see.”
Warner Pacific shot 31 percent from the field in total and 44 percent from beyond the arc. The Knights got to the free throw line 12 times.
The Ducks recorded 13 steals against the Knights. Petersen said she predicts a “breakout year” for Oregon defensively as the team continues to adjust to Graves’ system.
“It’s been a long month of October,” Petersen said. “We’re happy November is finally here and we get to play against someone before we play North Carolina. It was nice to get the kinks out.”
The Tar Heels, whose roster changed dramatically with the additions of high-profile transfers Stephanie Muvunga and Allisha Gray — were a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament last year. They were ranked No. 20 nationally in the USA Today coaches poll. They open their season on Friday night against Gardner-Webb.
“We’re looking forward to the (UNC) game,” Graves said. “We know it’s obviously going to be a really good test, but I think our players are excited.”
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Oregon women’s basketball downs Warner Pacific 99-46 in exhibition game
Jonathan Hawthorne
November 10, 2015
It was smooth sailing for the Ducks on Wednesday night at Matthew Knight Arena. The Oregon women’s basketball team topped Warner Pacific 99-46 in the program’s lone exhibition game of the season, setting the Ducks up for their regular season debut on the road at No. 22 North Carolina this Sunday. …
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