Following Oregon’s 68-53 loss to Oregon State on Saturday afternoon at Matthew Knight Arena, Oregon senior forward Amanda Johnson sunk into her seat at the press conference table and let out a deflated sigh.
“Oh my gosh,” Johnson said.
“What was that exclamation in reference to?” asked a reporter.
“Everything.”
There was plenty for Johnson and the Ducks (14-14, 6-10 Pac-12) to be disappointed about after their third-straight loss to the Beavers (18-9, 9-7 Pac-12). The defeat assured Oregon another sub-.500 finish in Pac-12 play, and was a bitter way for Oregon’s three seniors — Johnson, Nia Jackson, and Jasmin Holliday — to end their home careers. @@https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf8/827815.pdf?ATCLID=205386784&SPSID=4307&SPID=236&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@

Oregon let an eight-point lead slip away by shooting 18 percent from the field and 12 percent free-throw line in the second half, which nullified a strong effort by the Ducks on defense and rebounding.
“If I would label any reason why we lost, we just couldn’t make baskets,” Oregon coach Paul Westhead said. “I’m sure they have good reasons why they won, but we just couldn’t make baskets. You don’t make baskets, you can’t win.”
The poor shooting was contagious. Of the 10 Oregon players to appear in the game, only Laura Stanulis (1-2 from the field) at least 50 percent. Johnson and sophomore guard Ariel Thomas led the Ducks with 13 points apiece, but it came on a combined 26 field goal attempts. @@https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf8/827815.pdf?ATCLID=205386784&SPSID=4307&SPID=236&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
“We might have even gotten a little discouraged just because we shot so poorly in the second half,” Holliday said.
The outlook wasn’t so grim for most of the game. Midway through the second half, the Ducks were ahead 40-32, with an energized season-high crowd of 3,604 at their back. @@http://www.goducks.com/downloads2/447831.htm?ATCLID=205386784&SPSID=4307&SPID=236&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
Then suddenly, Oregon went cold. Starting from the 13:10 mark, the Ducks scored only a single point in an eight-minute stretch and didn’t make a field goal for nearly nine minutes. Meanwhile, Oregon State’s offense began to find the holes in Oregon’s zone defense. The Beavers’ 6-foot-7 post Thais Pinto made several baskets in the interior, and guard Earlysia Marchbanks scored several of her game-high 19 points during Oregon’s offensive lull. @@http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/orst-w-baskbl-mtt.html@@
That combination keyed an 18-1 Beaver run, which turned Oregon’s eight-point lead into a nine-point deficit. During Oregon State’s spurt, the pace of the game slowed, which rendered Oregon’s fast-break offense ineffective.
“It was slower, there were more dead balls, more fouls,” Johnson said. “They went to the line for 28 shots and they got 26 points off of their free throws. It really slowed the pace down sending them to the line and fouling. It’s hard to go on the break off of a dead ball.” @@https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf8/827815.pdf?ATCLID=205386784&SPSID=4307&SPID=236&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
Oregon was able to cut the deficit to 52-47 with 3:30 left on a free throw by Johnson, but the Beavers rolled off seven straight points to go up 12 and secure the win. @@http://www.goducks.com/downloads2/447831.htm?ATCLID=205386784&SPSID=4307&SPID=236&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
Although he lauded Oregon State for its defense, Westhead said Oregon’s shooting woes resulted from poor execution.
“It wasn’t like, ‘Well, gee coach you got trapped and double-teamed and were falling out of bounds and that’s why you shot (such a low) percent,’” Westhead said. “I think we had reasonably good looks, so that kind of adds to the disappointment that we should be able to make more shots than that.” @@The other women’s basketball story used this same quote@@
Despite forcing 20 Oregon State turnovers and grabbing seven more offensive rebounds than the Beavers, Oregon couldn’t overcome its poor shooting effort in the second half. @@https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf8/827815.pdf?ATCLID=205386784&SPSID=4307&SPID=236&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
“(It’s) very hard to maintain your ability to win the game when you shoot 18 percent in the second half and 12 percent from the three-point line,” Westhead said. “That’s really hard.”
Oregon will try to end its three-game losing streak when they visit Colorado on Thursday for the first game of the final series of the regular season.