Junior guard Taylor Lilley had 24 points, seven assists, and four steals, junior guard Micaela Cocks added 19 points for Oregon, and the Ducks beat the University of Washington in Seattle on Thursday night by 20 points. The 75-55 win was Oregon’s first victory in Seattle since March 20, 2002 in the WNIT.
“This is a really big confidence builder for our team,” Lilley said. “Especially coming into their house. We haven’t won here in awhile, so it was big for us.”
Up Next
– | The women’s next game will match them up with the Washington State Cougars (8-7 overall, 1-3 Pacific-10 Conference) in Pullman this Saturday at 2 p.m. The Cougars are coming off a 62-55 win against the Oregon State Beavers (10-5, 1-4) on Thursday. |
– | The Cougars are led in scoring by freshman guard Jazmine Perkins, who is averaging 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and three assists per game. Close behind Perkins is fellow freshman guard April Cook, with 13.9 points per game. |
– | The Ducks lead the all-time series against Washington State 54-10, including winning the last five contests, dating back to the 2006-07 season. |
Oregon (6-9 overall, 3-2 Pacific-10 Conference), led 32-27 at the half – despite 17 turnovers – due to a vigorous defense that held the Huskies (5-9, 1-3) to just 30 percent shooting from the field. The Huskies had 11 turnovers in the half, but neither team could take advantage of the sloppy play, and the score remained close into the second half.
“It was an ugly first half,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith said. “We talked about all week in practice about getting after it early, and I think we were just a little too aggressive. We turned the ball over a lot because we were playing a little frantic.”
The turning point came late in the second half, when Cocks sparked a 15-4 run that extended a four-point lead into a 61-45 point lead with 5:52 left to play. Cocks, who also had four rebounds and two assists, then hit Lilley in the corner for an open jumper with just under three minutes left to ice the game. Four free throws from Lilley and a lay-up in the waning seconds added to the final margin of 20 points.
The 25 turnovers topped the 24 the Ducks had against Arizona State last Saturday, but unlike against the Sun Devils, both Cocks and Lilley were on their games, and the Ducks outscored the Huskies 43-28 in the second half, including 52 percent shooting from the field.
“Even though we didn’t play well against ASU, we still believe in each other and we stuck together,” Lilley said. “It worked tonight, but now we have to focus on Washington State. We can’t take them lightly.”
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