The guard play of the Oregon women’s basketball team helped the Ducks earn their second road win of the season.
The Ducks escaped Pullman, Wash., with a 70-67 win against Washington State after nearly letting a 13-point lead slip away.
Oregon’s veteran core of Taylor Lilley, Micaela Cocks, Tamika Nurse and Kaela Chapdelaine combined for 52 of the Ducks’ 70 points. Lilley led the quartet with 20, while Cocks had 12, Nurse 11 and Chapdelaine nine.
Oregon made a season-high 12 three-pointers – 11 of them coming from Oregon’s experienced guards.
The Ducks improved their record to 11-15 overall and 5-10 in the Pacific-10 Conference. Oregon sits in seventh place in the conference, behind sixth-place Washington.
Point guard Tamika Nurse made a jumper for a 68-55 lead with more than three minutes left. Washington State answered with a 12-0 run that brought the Cougars within one.
Nurse sank two free throws in the closing seconds and Washington State missed a three-pointer that would have forced overtime.
“There was a look of composure and poise with the team,” head coach Bev Smith said in a media release. “We knew we were going to go down the floor and get a stop.”
Winless in Seattle
Oregon made its annual trip to face Washington Friday and experienced what has become a common result for the Ducks in a 61-60 loss. It was the seventh consecutive road defeat and seventh straight loss.
Much of the game was in Oregon’s control and the Ducks led 48-41 with 13:55 left.
But Washington fought back.
Andrea Plouffe completed a three-point play to make it 55-51, and later following two Lilley free throws, Sami Whitcomb hit a three-pointer to give Washington its first lead of the second half.
Consecutive free throws by Whitcomb bumped Washington’s lead to 61-58. On Oregon’s next possession, Lilley missed a three-pointer and Cocks grabbed the offensive board. Nurse drove the lane and banked in a jumper.
Whitcomb’s offensive foul gave Oregon the ball back, but Lilley, who tried driving the lane charged into a defender and gave the ball right back.
Oregon fouled Whitcomb, who missed consecutive free throws, giving the Ducks one last chance. But Oregon was unable to get off a shot before time expired.
“I think we stopped being aggressive toward the end,” Smith said. “We started playing not to lose the game, instead of playing to win it.”
Nicole Canepa had a team-high 12 points for Oregon. Lilley and Chapdelaine had 11 points each. Chapdelaine made 3 of 5 three-pointers to go with her five assists and three rebounds.
Laura McLellan led Washington with 14 points and Whitcomb had 13. Jess McCormack, Cocks’ teammate on the New Zealand National Team, had 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting and four rebounds after missing the first meeting between the two teams with a concussion.
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