In the final minutes of Oregon’s season-opening game against No. 22 North Carolina, the defense held its own.
Up by two points with under 25 seconds remaining, the Ducks fended off two potential game-winning 3-pointers to pull off the upset of the Tar Heels, 79-77.
Lexi Bando led Oregon with 18 points, Lexi Petersen had 14 and Kat Cooper finished with 13 on 3-of-6 shooting from 3-point range. Jillian Alleyne tallied a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. She also had five assists.
“In the end we did a nice job and got the key stops down the stretch,” head coach Kelly Graves said in an interview with Oregon IMG after the game. “We shot a lot better in the second half. That was a good win. Any time a season-opening win at Carolina. Are you kidding me?”
The Ducks out-shot North Carolina 50 percent to 37 percent on the game. Oregon was 7-of-15 from 3-point range, compared to the Tar Heel’s mark of 2-of-13.
“This was the best season opener I’ve ever experienced,” Graves told reporters postgame.
Bando had the first points of the season for Oregon.
UNC got out to an early lead, 17-9 before a Bando 3-pointer cut the lead to 17-12. The game went back-and-forth until intermission. In the third quarter, Oregon put together an 8-3 run to stretch its lead to 50-49. Oregon increased its lead to 65-59 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Ducks went on a 8-2 run to open the fourth, led by 3-pointers from Petersen and Cooper. Oregon held its largest lead of the game — 73-63 — after the Cooper 3-pointer. Alleyne also added a bucket during the run.
North Carolina closed in again, with Jamie Cherry hitting 3-pointer to bring the Tar Heels to within one point — 78-77 with 28.4 to go. The Tar Heels fouled Alleyne, who missed her first free-throw and made the second to give the Ducks a two-point lead. Oregon would hold on from there to finish out the game.
Maite Cazorla finished with nine points and nine assists in her first collegiate game.
“We kind of expected that,” Graves said. ‘That’s a heck of a first game. That’s something you’ll be able to tell your grandkids years from now.”
After the game, locker room celebration began:
WE JUST BEAT NORTH CAROLINA! pic.twitter.com/EWjt4SdvPA
— Elizabeth Brenner (@ElizBrenner) November 15, 2015
Oregon will host Hampton on Thursday in its home-opener, with tip-0ff set for 6 p.m.
Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne
