The Oregon women’s basketball team’s 86-48 win over Eastern Washington was not very pretty to watch at times. The Ducks committed 19 turnovers and 17 personal fouls, and the full-court press defense was so overzealous that head coach Paul Westhead called it off at one point in the first half.
Nevertheless, the margin of victory is the Ducks’ highest since a 102-36 win over Prairie View A&M on Dec. 10, 2005. The 86 points are the most for an Oregon team since an 86-73 win over Arizona on Jan. 11, 2007.
Welcome to the Paul Westhead era.
Guard Taylor Lilley set a career high with 28 points, shooting 10 of 21 from the field and seven of 14 from three-point range, also a career best. Five of Lilley’s three-pointers came in the second half — three within a minute — as the Ducks (1-0) pulled away from the Eagles (1-1).
“I think, in the second half, we were able to push the ball and that’s what created the open looks,” Lilley said. “It’s easy to get in rhythm.”
“Taylor Lilley was en fuego,” Westhead said. “That’s a young lady that I know could come out (like that offensively). Our goal is to keep that kind of player shooting like that and getting open shots.”
Lilley got open early, hitting two consecutive three-pointers in the first 36 seconds for the Ducks. A Micaela Cocks three-pointer opened up the early lead to 9-2. Eastern Washington, however, kept pace for the Ducks over the next 10 minutes, trading baskets nearly as fast as turnovers. Oregon turned the ball over 12 times to the Eagles’ 15 in the first half, and the pace slowed to a half-court game.
“It’s just making little mistakes and not quite being on it,” Cocks said of the early struggles. “We just had to work through our mistakes.”
In an effort to stop the Eagles from making close baskets on Oregon’s man-to-man defense, Westhead called for a zone defense with eight minutes remaining.
“Yesterday in practice, the only thing we did live for about 20 minutes was practice our zone defense,” Westhead said. “We needed it. The zone really helped us because, as good as this team could shoot the ball, the zone seemed to fluster them.
“I said to our players, we’ll eventually crack them if we run and press, run and press, run and press. We didn’t run and press real well in the first half.”
The pressing and running worked a lot better in the second half. Oregon built up an 8-0 run over the first six minutes of the second half and began to wear down the Eagles physically. The Ducks began attacking the post with greater success, with Nicole Canepa the primary beneficiary.
“Nic did a great job of making herself available for the ball (in the post),” Cocks said.
The junior came off the Oregon bench to score a career-high 17 points and grab 10 rebounds, her first double-double since a Pacific-10 Conference tournament game against Cal on March 8, 2008.
“I felt really good in the post tonight (and) in the running and rebounding,” Canepa said.
Canepa and Lilley weren’t the only Ducks with career nights. Forward Victoria Kenyon snared a career-best nine rebounds in 29 minutes.
Cocks was the only other player in double figures for the Ducks, scoring 14 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists. Forward Amanda Johnson struggled with foul trouble early – three in the first half – but filled up the stat sheet as the game progressed, with eight points, seven rebounds and five assists.
The Ducks were without forward Jasmin Holliday, who remains at home in California for
personal reasons.
Oregon shot 40.6 percent from the field (26-64), including 47.1 percent from three-point range (8-17), and made 18 of 19 free throws in the first half. But don’t think the Ducks are satisfied with their performance.
“It shows that we have a lot of room for improvement,” Lilley said. “We have a lot more (room to improve) together and a lot more to get better at.”
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A new era begins
Daily Emerald
November 16, 2009
Jack Hunter
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