With four Oregon seniors playing their final regular season game at McArthur Court, the deciding play in the Ducks 66-65 loss Saturday afternoon to UCLA came down to a wild foray into the key by a freshman.
With Oregon trailing 64-62, freshman guard Tamika Nurse drove the key with 22 seconds left looking to find an open shooter or draw a foul, only to find neither. Nurse’s shot bounced off the rim and forced Oregon to foul Amanda Livingston.
“I feel like today I was a lot more comfortable than I’ve been in the past,” Nurse said. “I think that’s why (Oregon coach) Bev (Smith) had some trust in me to get this one done, but unfortunately I didn’t.”
Livingston and then Noelle Quinn missed shots at the free-throw line. After Quinn missed with seven seconds left, Oregon senior Chelsea Wagner grabbed the rebound, but was called for traveling with 6.6 seconds left.
UCLA forward Lindsey Pluimer, who punished Oregon inside with 17 points and five rebounds, followed with two game-clinching free throws.
Oregon will travel to the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament next weekend in San Jose, Calif. The eighth-place Ducks (14-14 overall, 5-13 Pac-10) open Friday against ninth-place Arizona (7-21, 3-15) at 8:15 p.m.
The Ducks are seeking at least one more win to assure a .500 record and the possibility to extend their season. If Oregon can’t win the conference tournament to earn the NCAA Tournament automatic bid, the WNIT remains a possibility with a .500 record.
Nurse, shooting 64.7 percent this season from the free-throw line, made two free throws with 45 seconds left to bring Oregon within one. The possession before, Nurse fed second-half spark plug Carolyn Ganes for a three-pointer.
UCLA’s talented trio, Lisa Willis, Quinn and Nikki Blue, combined with Pluimer’s performance and Oregon’s inability to get that needed stop left the Ducks with a disappointing result.
“We got it where we wanted it, we just didn’t capitalize on it,” Oregon forward Kedzie Gunderson said.
Willis scored 17, and Quinn and Blue each had nine. Blue dished out eight assists. Reserve Ortal Oren scored eight points and made a three-pointer to bring UCLA’s lead to 52-47 with less than 10 minutes left.
“(Willis has) been extremely competitive,” UCLA coach Kathy Olivier said. “She’s wanted the basketball at key times.”
Consecutive jumpers by Blue and Pluimer made the score 59-51 with 4:28 left before Oregon’s last push.
Ganes propelled Oregon with all 14 of her points in the second half. Like Jessie Shetters did Thursday night, Ganes provided Oregon’s post points with Gabrielle Richards restricted to two minutes with a sore left foot.
“I got some good looks,” Ganes said. “My teammates got me the ball when I was open and I was able to get some points on the board and try to get the energy level up a little bit.”
UCLA went small in the first half with Livingston and Quinn at the four and five positions and kept Ganes sidelined with unfavorable matchups. When she did play, Ganes took the ball down low and either scored or drew a foul.
“Her low block game has really improved this year,” Smith said. “She’s worked on it. We needed to get the ball inside. I thought we missed her more than we hit her.”
Oregon’s typically strong defense allowed UCLA 57 percent shooting in the first half, but cut that percentage to 38 in the second half.
“We did all we could defensively, we just need to put points on the board,” Wagner said.
Pre-game ceremonies recognized Oregon’s four seniors including guard Brandi Davis, Wagner, Gunderson and Yadili Okwumabua.
Davis earned her 1,000th career point on her first three-pointer of her 15-point night. Bothered by knee problems this season, Okwumabua played nine minutes and completed a three-point play in the opening minutes. Wagner never got going, making just 1 of 8 shots. Gunderson efficiently scored 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting.
But then the game ended and the realization came that this was it.
“We care,” Wagner said. “-We go out there. We play and we sweat. We’ve gone through so much for this team.”
Oregon lost three game-changing seniors from 2004-05 entering this season. Still, the Ducks didn’t anticipate finishing at .500 and staying home for March Madness.
“We work hard and we know that we have a ton of talent on this team and we just haven’t been able to put things together,” Gunderson said.
Correction:
Because of an editor’s error, Monday’s “Ducks drop heartbreaker at UCLA” incorrectly reported where the Oregon women’s basketball team played. The Ducks faced UCLA at McArthur Court.
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