On Jan. 22, when the California Golden Bears and Oregon Ducks met up at McArthur Court, the Golden Bears held the Ducks to 10 first-half points, Oregon’s lowest-scoring first half in history, as they won 65-50. Entering Thursday’s contest with a No. 6 ranking, the Golden Bears once again took the Ducks out of the game early.
The Ducks (9-16, 5-9 Pacific-10 Conference) shot 30.6 percent (15-49) to Cal’s 53.8 percent and committed 17 turnovers to Cal’s eight as Oregon found itself doubled up by the Bears, 84-42, at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif. Cal scored 48 points in the paint to the Ducks’ 18 and 18 second-chance points to the Ducks’ two in the Bears’ most lopsided win this season.
“Our fight wasn’t what it needed to be. (I’m) very, very disappointed in our effort and our fight tonight,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith said in a postgame radio interview.
Cal (21-3, 12-1) took any doubt as to the outcome away from the Ducks within the first nine minutes of the game. After Oregon sophomore forward Ellie Manou made a jump shot on the game’s first possession, the Bears responded with eight straight points. A layup by junior guard Taylor Lilley to break the run led to a longer, 11-point run. Cal junior guard Alexis Gray-Lawson’s jumper with 11:51 remaining put the Bears up 19-4. The Ducks would never get within 15 points for the rest of the game, and the Bears extended their first-half lead by as much as 25 (44-19, 1:56 remaining).
The halftime score was Oregon 23, Ashley Walker 20. The senior forward and two-time All-American supplemented her point total with eight rebounds, finishing with 24 points and 11 rebounds and single-handedly controlling the paint for the Bears.
“They went to (Walker) early and they went to her often and a number of times, and obviously we couldn’t defend her,” Smith said. “We just didn’t get there.”
The second half played out in similar fashion, as the margin of victory (42 points) also represented Cal’s largest lead of the game. The Bears, who entered the game allowing the fourth-fewest points in college basketball, badgered the Ducks into 29.6-percent (8-27) shooting, including 1-11 (9.1 percent) from three-point range.
Including Walker, five Cal players scored in double figures: junior forward Lauren Greif (11 points, seven rebounds), Gray-Lawson (11 points), senior forward Devanei Hampton (10 points) and senior forward Shantrell Sneed (10 points, five rebounds). The Golden Bears enjoyed a 42-26 rebounding edge over the Ducks that included 16 offensive rebounds.
Manou and Taylor Lilley scored 10 points each for the Ducks. Sophomore center Nicole Canepa scored nine points with three rebounds and two blocks in an effort Smith praised postgame.
“She got in a little bit under Walker and Hampton’s skin,” Smith said. “She had 23 good minutes that we were really gonna need.”
The Ducks have to swallow a hard loss today in preparation for No. 4 Stanford, who dispatched Oregon State 72-43 yesterday. Smith expects to make some adjustments in light of the team’s performance against the Golden Bears.
“We’ll see a bit of a lineup change,” she said.
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