The Oregon women’s basketball team emerged from its first road trip of the season with a split.
The Ducks traveled to Albuquerque, N.M., for the Holiday Inn & Suites Express Albuquerque Midtown Tournament on Saturday night on the campus of the University of New Mexico.
Oregon advanced to the championship game Saturday night with a 64-51 win Friday night against Coppin State. But against New Mexico, Oregon fell 65-46, hampered by foul trouble in front of a crowd of 7,835.
The trio of Ellie Manou, Ellyce Ironmonger and Kaela Chapdelaine fouled out.
Oregon (3-2) came within six points, 34-28, with just more than 13 minutes left on consecutive three-pointers from Taylor Lilley and Micaela Cocks. That was as close as Oregon got in the second half.
The Ducks committed 19 turnovers, gave up 16 offensive rebounds and shot 25 percent from the floor.
“There is a resolve about this team, we’re not going to give in … we felt we were still in the game with five minutes left,” head coach Bev Smith said in a media release.
Cocks and Lilley led Oregon with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Smith changed the starting lineup and inserted Ironmonger in place of Manou.
“Any time you play on the road you are going to play in some very adverse situations … it was a good learning experience for our young players,” Smith said. “I don’t think many of our young players have played in an environment like this.”
Chapdelaine, who had six points and five rebounds, earned a spot on the all-tournament team. In Oregon’s first game, Chapdelaine made career highs with 19 points and 11 rebounds. It was the first double-double of the senior’s career. She made four three-pointers.
Ironmonger also had a career-high of 13 points. Nicole Canepa had a near double-double with eight points and eight rebounds.
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