The Oregon women’s basketball team bounced back from Thursday’s 61-48 defeat to Arizona State to beat Arizona 59-55 on Saturday night.
“After Thursday’s game, (Arizona) was a tough one because we haven’t won there in a long time, and we came into it really fired up,” Oregon guard Kaela Chapdelaine said. “Both teams were tired in the second game of the weekend.”
The Ducks opened the first half with a trio of three-pointers from Cicely Oaks, Chapdelaine and another three-point play by Oaks, which gave Oregon a 14-4 cushion before the Wildcats went on a six-point run.
Both teams went into the half with the score tied at 25-25, and they kept the score close throughout the game. Neither team led by more than four points until the last three minutes, when Carolyn Ganes’ jumper gave the Ducks a 56-49 lead.
From then on, Oregon maintained its lead, and the closest the Wildcats came to regaining command of the game was when Arizona’s Ashley Whisonant attempted a crowded shot inside the lane but missed the shot that would have tied the score at 57-57.
After Whisonant missed, the Ducks put the game away with a pair of free-throws by Eleanor Haring, who finished with nine points and six rebounds.
For the second game in a row, Chapdelaine led the team in scoring with 10 points on the night. She also pulled down four boards and went 2-of-6 from the field.
Several of Chapdelaine’s points came at key moments in the game. With less than 10 minutes to go in the second half, she assisted on a Micaela Cocks layup and then sank two free throws that gave the Ducks a 46-41 lead.
With 7:02 left in the game, senior post Jamie Hawkins and Chapdelaine again came up with back-to-back baskets that put the Ducks five points ahead and maintained enough cushion.
“I don’t know if I’d say it was a perfect basketball game,” Chapdelaine said. “But we were aggressive in the second half, and we played well enough to just get the win.
The Ducks have won the last four out of their five games and, with this win, they improve to 14-10 overall, 6-8 in the Pacific-10 Conference.
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