LOS ANGELES — Every time the Oregon women’s basketball team appeared to have the game won, Eshaya Murphy made a play to keep USC in contention.
Murphy poured in 15 of her game-high 26 points in two overtimes Friday night to allow USC to escape with a 79-71 win at the Galen Center.
Murphy made a driving lay-up to tie the game at 52 at the end of regulation and hit two three-pointers in the first overtime to force the second. She kicked off the second overtime with a three-pointer to give USC a 63-60 lead. Then after Oregon regained the lead at 69-68, the senior guard made four free throws in the final minute to seal the game.
Oregon players expressed little interest in a moral victory afterwards. On the court, Oregon (9-4, 1-2 Pac-10) showed a vastly different team than last year’s squad that went winless on the road in the Pac-10 Conference.
“We’re here and people have to respect us at least,” point guard Tamika Nurse said. “A lot of people didn’t respect us before the season.”
Four Ducks reached double figures, led by Eleanor Haring with 17 points, and followed by Cicely Oaks’ 14 points. Carolyn Ganes had 11 points and Kaela Chapdelaine had 10.
“We can’t just sit and watch El play,” Oaks said. “Someone has to step up besides El every game. I’ve just been looking to be a little more aggressive and I just happened to make shots today.”
Oregon made it interesting and led the last seven minutes of the first half and much of the second, in part due to timely shots from Oaks, Ganes and Chapdelaine.
Oregon trailed 46-43 when Nurse hit a jumper and Oaks made a three-pointer for a 48-46 lead. Three minutes later, USC guard Jamie Hagiya’s three-pointer inched the Trojans ahead, 50-49. Ganes responded with a three-pointer on the right wing with 1:12 left. Oregon held the two point lead, 52-50, until 21 seconds remained.
Oregon had the ball under USC’s basket but was unable to find an opening on the inbound pass and called timeout. Following the timeout, Oaks couldn’t find an open teammate and was called for a five second violation.
“That kind of bit us in the butt,” Oregon coach Bev Smith said.
What, then, can Oregon do to avoid the problem the next time?
“I think we need to make better leads, better cuts pretty much but they played good defense,” point guard Tamika Nurse said.
USC took advantage of the turnover when Murphy dribbled past Ganes on a pick and roll to slip in the game typing lay-up along the left baseline. Nurse drove the length of the court, only to miss a lay-up as time expired.
In the first overtime, Haring completed a three-point play on the opening possession and Chapdelaine matched it with a three-pointer a minute later for a 58-52 lead. But again, Murphy answered with two three-pointers to send it to double overtime.
“I was very proud of them in the two overtimes,” Smith said. “They battled and they hung in there and they gave themselves a chance to win.”
Chapdelaine guarded Murphy much of the game and until the final seconds of regulation had just nine points. But by tying the game at the end of regulation, Murphy stretched her streak of double-digit scoring to 40 games.
Oregon had motivation for a better performance after last year’s 72-48 loss to USC in Los Angeles. The start of the first half offered an eerily similar performance with the Trojans ahead 11-0 within the first three minutes.
The Ducks chipped away by penetrating and finding open shooters. At the end of the half, Oregon had pulled ahead, 35-29, with the Ducks making 7-of-13 three-pointers.
Oregon must now rebound with a visit to UCLA on Sunday. The Bruins were upset Friday night by Oregon State, 56-52.
Notes: Oregon shot 14-for-24 from three-point range Friday. The 14 three-pointers are the most Oregon’s made since a home win against Arizona last February. Southern California native Taylor Lilley had eight points on 3-for-5 shooting in 27 minutes.