The Oregon women’s basketball team entered Thursday night with nine consecutive road losses to Arizona State and hadn’t won in Tempe since the 1999-2000 season.
The Sun Devils saw to that streak reaching double digits.
After a mistake-ridden first half, ASU (10-6, 2-3 Pacific-10 Conference) broke away from the Ducks (12-4, 3-1 Pac-10) with a 16-2 second-half run en route to a 73-68 victory. Oregon mounted a strong comeback late, as Amanda Johnson’s layup narrowed the gap to two with 16 seconds remaining, but the Sun Devils made three free throws off Duck fouls to ice the game.
“They came back strong at the end,” head coach Paul Westhead said. “They were fighting as hard as they could in the last three minutes and I was proud of them at the end of the game.
“I just felt we weren’t in our normal sync. We just seemed to not get into our flow. People weren’t in position.”
The Ducks committed 13 turnovers in the first half and trailed 33-28 at the break, despite four ties and lead changes in the first 20 minutes. The 28 points first-half points marks the fewest Oregon has scored all season, behind 29 in its pre-season loss to Wisconsin.
Arizona State kept the game close by committing 18 first-half turnovers but settled down and took control of the pace, causing trouble for the Ducks. Oregon’s 25 turnovers in the game led to 21 Sun Devil points.
“That’s unusual for us. There’s some areas that we’re kind of short on, but not in turnovers,” Westhead said. “That particularly hurt us at the start of the game. We couldn’t settle into our offense early.”
The Ducks also were cold for much of the game, making seven of 21 three-point attempts (33.3 percent) and five of 10 free throws. By comparison, Arizona State forward Kayli Murphy scored 11 points on 11-of-12 free throw shooting.
ASU guard Danielle Orsillo led all scorers with 17 points. Guards Micaela Cocks and Nia Jackson tied for the Ducks’ high score with 15 points apiece, and guard Taylor Lilley scored 14.
Oregon forward Victoria Kenyon was ejected with 6:01 remaining in the second half after a minor skirmish with Arizona State forward Kali Bennett. A double foul was initially assessed on the play, but after an official review, Kenyon was charged with a flagrant foul and tossed from the game. Bennett fouled out on the play.
Ducks to face Arizona Saturday
While the Ducks battled the Sun Devils in Tempe, the Arizona Wildcats defeated the Oregon State Beavers, 62-53, in Tucson to move to 8-7 on the season (2-3 Pac-10). Oregon faces the Wildcats at 1 p.m. tomorrow.
Arizona is led by junior forward Ify Ibekwe, the Pac-10’s top rebounder (12.1 per game) and No. 17-best scorer (12.9 points per game). Ibekwe burned the Ducks last season for 35 points, 22 rebounds and six blocks in their two games, a home-victory split.
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