Ladies and gentlemen, Oregon women’s basketball doesn’t get any uglier than this.
Twenty-five turnovers. Twenty-four personal fouls.
A horrendous 16-for-32 from the foul line, accompanied by 17-for-45 shooting (37.8 percent) from the floor.
And, to cap such a forgettable night, the Ducks received their third straight loss to an athletic Southern California team by a final score of 55-53.
An NCAA Division-I basketball game transpires in 40 clock minutes. Due to time-outs, fouls, two quarter breaks and halftime, a typical game actually lasts about an hour and 45 minutes.
Thursday’s game lasted 2 hours and 20 minutes. Ask any of the 4,349 fans at McArthur Court Thursday, and they’d probably tell you the game seemed a lot longer than that.
“During the whole game, I never felt like we got into a good flow offensively,” said forward Brianne Meharry, who fouled out with 14 seconds left. “Defensively, we’d make a good play, and we’d come down and turn it over on offense. Offense would finally get something going, and we’d come down, foul and screw up on defense.”
Oregon’s (11-5 overall, 4-2 Pacific-10 Conference) final two possessions were painstakingly long. Trailing the Trojans 54-53, senior forward Lindsey Dion drove downcourt with about 20 seconds to go and missed a short jumper.
Meharry fouled out for her seventh time this season when she hacked USC center Ebony Hoffman, who sank the second of the two ensuing free throws.
The Ducks inbounded the ball with 14 seconds left, and again, the ball went to Dion. This time, Dion pulled up from just inside the three-point line — and shot an air ball.
Luck smiled on Oregon when the Trojans (7-9, 2-4) lost the rebound out of bounds with 7.4 remaining. Dion took another shot, which was blocked. The ball landed in the hands of Oregon point guard Kourtney Shreve, but Hoffman blocked the sophomore’s desperation shot.
“I thought they were going to call a foul,” said Hoffman, a freshman who recorded her first career double-double with 19 points and 17 rebounds. “She had it behind her head, so I thought I might as well just take it and get at least a jump ball and let the clock run out. It worked, and we came out with a victory.”
The Ducks, playing without injured senior forward Angelina Wolvert, have now lost two in a row. Both losses — the first setback was to Washington State last Saturday — were determined in the final seconds.
Thursday’s officiating by referees Melissa Barlow, Kim Balque and Marianne Karp left a sour taste in Oregon head coach Jody Runge’s mouth.
About four minutes into the second half, the Ducks had committed just one foul compared to USC’s six. Through the next six minutes, the Trojans were called for just four fouls while Oregon was whistled for 10.
“Melissa [Barlow] told me when it was [6-1] that they were evening it up,” Runge said. “If I get in trouble for that, I’m quoting her.
“It’s a frustrating thing when people think that fouls should be even, because they can apply all kinds of pressure, and we’re getting a hand-check foul every time we come down the floor. It’s a tough deal.”
Oregon takes its two-game losing skid into its 1 p.m. Saturday matchup with UCLA at The Pit.