As has happened a couple times this season, Oregon sophomore guard Taylor Lilley stepped up and provided the offense for the Ducks.
Unfortunately, nobody was able to follow her out of single digits in scoring. The scoring drought – combined with being outrebounded 36-26 by Arizona, including 14-7 on the offensive glass – sealed the close 65-60 loss in Tucson for Oregon.
The Ducks (10-11, 4-6 Pacific-10 Conference) couldn’t inch back into the fourth place battle in the conference with a victory over the Wildcats (8-13, 2-8). Oregon next faces Arizona State (14-7, 8-2) in Tempe on Saturday morning in a game that is scheduled to be broadcast on Fox Sports Net.
“It’s a tough loss again,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith said in a broadcast interview. “I just think that Arizona had a smart game plan and took it to us in the paint.
“It’s becoming a little bit of a broken record.”
Lilley was the offensive firepower for Oregon on the night, scoring a game-high 22 points on 8 for 11 shooting. The sophomore also hit five three-pointers and had three assists in her 33 minutes Thursday night.
“I think we really got control in the second half, ran things through Taylor,” Smith said. “And yet we didn’t have anyone else.”
Oregon didn’t have anyone else. Freshman forward Ellie Manou scored 9 points for the Ducks coming off the bench, the second highest point total on the night behind Lilley.
“We couldn’t put together a five-player rotation that really was going to give us something in terms of scoring and rebounding,” Smith said. “We just didn’t have things fall when we had them tonight and that was compounded by the fact that we couldn’t rebound.”
In comparison, Arizona partnered the shooting of guard Ashley Whisonant, who scored 22 points herself, with the inside game of forward Ify Ibekwe, who scored 16 points. Forward Amina Njonkou also had 11 points for the Wildcats in their win, but it was Ibekwe that Smith singled out as “the difference” for Arizona. Smith pointed out both Ibekwe helping Arizona to 38 points in the paint and grabbing a rebound over Oregon senior forward Kaela Chapdelaine late when the Ducks had a chance to bring the game within a basket.
“Those things are really things that add up over the course of the game,” Smith said.
Smith still believes the team can turn the recent slide around, especially because the Ducks trailed by three at half against Arizona and were within striking distance throughout the game. There may be no better time to recover than against the Sun Devils, who currently sit third in the conference standings.
“There’s no hanging our head,” Smith said. “We can make some things happen if we stay together and stay focused and stay energized.”
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