The early going held the signs of a blowout.
California, relying on poise, struck fast and often in taking a 16-0 lead within the first 10 minutes of the second round game in the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament.
Oregon coach Bev Smith called timeout, preached patience, and the Ducks worked their way back in.
By game’s end, Oregon had lost, 67-60, but in the process, brought it within two at one point, and challenged Cal, an NCAA Tournament team. The loss came before 2,858 fans inside HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.
“I think we’re happy with the decision making. It wasn’t like we were taking bad shots and it wasn’t like we were chucking things up,” guard Kaela Chapdelaine said. “If we just keep with that mentality, keep on taking the open shots …”
Oregon did and relied on the inside play of Nicole Canepa, who, in front of family and friends, posted 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
Canepa’s play created openings for the guards led by Taylor Lilley, who had her second straight game of 20-plus points, with 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting.
Guard Micaela Cocks, also hitting from deep, had nine points, including 3-of-4 from three-point range. Chapdelaine, making what proved to be her final appearance in an Oregon uniform, had 12 points and 4 assists.
She completes her career with 658 points, 364 rebounds and 362 assists – the latter category ranking seventh in program history.
The guard also dispelled any talk that she had been battling the flu last week.
“I feel great,” an initially laughing Chapdelaine said, before giving way to tears. “I wasn’t that sick. I just got some rest and was good to go (Friday). Emotion-wise when it’s done it’s done so I really don’t know what to say.”
Cal led 18-2 when Oregon reeled off 11 straight points, started by a Chapdelaine three-pointer and featuring five points from Lilley. The Golden Bears upped the lead to seven, 26-19, on a Kelsey Adrian three-pointer, but Lilley’s layup brought Oregon within four, 30-26, and the Ducks trailed by five, 31-26, at halftime.
The second half began with another Cal run that pushed the lead to 13, 54-41, with 7:54 left on a Natasha Vital layup. Oregon stayed close, and Lilley’s three-point play brought it within three, 57-54 with 1:33 remaining.
Oregon resorted to fouling to stretch the game out. Consecutive Lilley three-pointers cut the lead to two, 62-60, with 15 seconds left. But after two free-throws by Cal’s Alexis Gray-Lawson, Lilley turned the ball over.
The Ducks’ season too was shortly over.
Oregon, finishing at 14-17, was short of the .500 mark necessary for postseason play and so players were left to look forward to next season.
“It can only get better,” Lilley said. “We’re just going to really work hard in the spring just as a group and we have some new freshmen coming in that are going to really help us out.”
Letting them fly
Lilley kept firing from outside in the opening game of the Pac-10 tournament.
“Even at the beginning of the game they weren’t dropping, but I knew because we were playing against a zone that I would have open looks,” Lilley said. “I was just trying to relax and keep on balance, and they eventually went in.”
The sophomore had made 7-of-31 shots in her two previous games and changed that around with 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting during the first round game against Washington State. Along with Lilley, Manou had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Cocks had 13 points and four rebounds.
Lilley, Manou and Cocks’ performances helped Oregon recover from a sluggish first-half when Washington State relied on the hot hand of Jasmine Williams in creating a 28-23 Cougar lead at halftime.
“The first half we just didn’t have a lot of great defensive intensity and perseverance to finish off possessions, and Washington State played very well,” Smith said. “They shot the ball very well, went at us one-on-one and created some pretty easy scoring opportunities for them, and got us into foul trouble a little bit.
“We just allowed them to shoot too many open shots and too many layups. That’s not what we do defensively, so at halftime that’s all we talked about.”
Oregon emerged from halftime and within eight minutes had used a 17-6 run to take a 40-34 lead. The Ducks continued to build on that and led 55-39 on a Canepa bucket assisted by Chapdelaine with 8:31 remaining.
Washington State, held to 17 points in the half, never seriously threatened the Ducks lead after that. Oregon made 55.2 percent of their shots in the second frame, including 62.5 percent from three-point territory on 5-of-8 shooting.
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