PORTLAND — Oregon head coach Jody Runge dressed to the occasion of playing in an NBA arena.
She stood in front of the Oregon bench sporting an uncharacteristic black pant suit bordered around the collar and wrists with a feathery red-and-black trim.
On the Rose Garden floor, however, Runge’s team appeared shabby at best.
The No. 12 Ducks (4-0) overcame an ugly 21-point, 14-turnover first-half performance to beat Santa Clara (3-2), 62-54, in front of thousands of fans at the Trailblazers’ home arena in Portland Saturday night at the third annual Papé Jam.”We’ve got problems,” sophomore point guard Kourtney Shreve said. “We turned the ball over way too much.”
One problem was the three-point line, junior guard Jamie Craighead said. Oregon’s guards were disoriented at times when they confused the pro-distance black line with the collegiate red line.
But more problematic than two three-point lines was bad passing, poor execution on offense and 36.8 percent shooting in the first half.
“We have not had a good week of practice, execution-wise,” Runge said. “I’m not sure what it was tonight, but we played today like we played in practice this week.”
The Broncos’ trapping defense also threw the Ducks’ offense out of sync. Most of Oregon’s turnovers occurred on the perimeter, as its listed guards accounted for half of the period’s losses.
Senior forward Brianne Meharry, who has been playing at small forward this season, committed five first-half turnovers.
The teams went into the locker room at halftime tied at 21, and 10 of the Ducks’ points came in the final 3 minutes of the half.
“We’ve tried to work on it in practice, but we don’t really know how to run a half-court trap ourselves,” Craighead said. “When we actually have someone who knows how to run it, it’s a little bit different.”
Despite the many turnovers and execution errors, there was one big plus as the Ducks now focus on their road showdown with Texas Dec. 9.
Senior center Jenny Mowe was honored as the Player of the Game, scoring 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting, making all seven of her second-half shots. She played a season-high 25 minutes, grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds and had two blocks.

The rest of the scoring load was shouldered by senior forward Angelina Wolvert, who led Oregon with 18 points, and Craighead, who shot 4-of-9 and finished with 11 points.
“A lot of people are stepping up and playing big roles, and Jen played a big role for us tonight too,” Wolvert said. “That’s what’s going to happen. [Shaquala Williams] shot the ball a lot for us last year, and it didn’t get distributed as much. A lot of people’s abilities are really coming forward right now.”
Oregon took care of business for the final 20 minutes of play, breaking the game open with a 16-1 scoring run that started on a tip-in by Meharry with 16:56 remaining.
“The second half, we just got to it,” Mowe said. “We just posted up harder and the guards started throwing in some great passes.”
Craighead had a career-high three blocks, and Meharry’s six assists also marked a career best. Mowe’s 11 rebounds fell one board short of a career high, established last season against Santa Clara.
The game was the second in which the Ducks have held their opponent to less than 40 percent shooting in the second half.
“Oregon is a very good team, and I think they deserve their ranking,” Santa Clara head coach Chris Denker said. “They have a good front line and a good squad.”
After the game, Mowe had an ice bag wrapped around her hand, which she injured in a fall in the second half. Runge said the injury isn’t serious, but that Mowe would have an X-ray Sunday.