After last week’s shocking defeat at the hands of Vanguard University, the Oregon women’s basketball team opened its regular season over the weekend against UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach State University needing to reestablish its credibility.
The Ducks went to work, rolling past UCSB 85-77 on Friday night and then defeating Long Beach State 44-33 in a Sunday afternoon.
Freshman guard Taylor Lilley was a dominating force in her Oregon debut. Lilley, a southern California native, came off the bench to score 27 points in 28 minutes in front of family members who had come to cheer her on.
“Playing here and knowing that my friends and family came up to watch, I wanted to impress them,” Lilley said, laughing. “It was fun out there tonight.”
Lilley went 10-for-14 from the floor with five three-pointers.
Senior center Carolyn Ganes also came off the bench to complement Lilley’s hot hand. Ganes scored 23 points in 23 minutes and shot 8-of-11 from the field with a trifecta of threes for the Ducks.
“We kept our heads up and kept our composure, and did the little things well,” Oregon coach Bev Smith said. “We only turned it over 12 times, and that’s tremendous after coming off the Vanguard game.”
In Oregon’s final exhibition game against Vanguard, the Ducks committed 31 turnovers and went into the half trailing 27-26.
Against UCSB, last year’s Big West Conference champions, Oregon played like an entirely different team. The Ducks opened the game with a 6-0 scoring run, and complied a 46-28 lead by halftime.
This momentum carried into Sunday’s game against Long Beach State. This time, senior forward Jessie Shetters stole the show, scoring a career-high 12 points, and pulling down 12 boards to record her first career double-double.
“I was playing out there with confidence, which is the biggest thing for me,” Shetters said. “My main role is a defensive stopper, but I’m being counted on to contribute more on the offensive end.”
The 6-foot-6-inch Portland, Ore., native also impacted the defense, blocking three shots in a defensively oriented game.
Despite Shetters’ heroics, and another 14 points from Lilley, Oregon’s offense struggled to find the net and the Ducks went 1-and-13 from beyond the arc, and shot only 29 percent from the field.
“I’d rather have an ugly win than a pretty loss,” Smith said. “Today was a good lesson in learning to play tough and how to grind out a win on the road.”
The Ducks (2-0) now come home to play in the Oregon Thanksgiving Tournament this weekend against Boise State University on Friday and either University of Utah or University of Pittsburgh on Saturday.
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