PORTLAND, Ore. — With just over a minute left in the Portland Regional final and leading by just three points, Oregon women’s basketball’s Sabrina Ionescu drained a step-back 3-pointer.
“Well that was going in regardless,” Ionescu said of her shot. “I didn’t want [the game] to go into overtime. I didn’t want to give them any more opportunities to score. I was pretty tired and I was like, ‘Let me just hit this and walk off to the Final Four.’”
Forty seconds later, the junior guard found senior Maite Cazorla on the perimeter for another 3-pointer to give the Ducks their widest-lead against No. 1-seed Mississippi State.
The Bulldogs have been to the past two National Championship games, but lost both and were looking for their third-straight Elite Eight victory with a National Championship title on the line.
Cazorla’s game-ending bucket was the final blow in the Ducks first ever Elite Eight victory after back-to-back Elite Eight loses, sending Oregon to the Final Four for the first time in program history.
“Maite’s shot with 16 seconds on the shot-clock, 45 seconds in the game. It’s a questionable shot,” assistant coach Jodie Berry said. “They’ve proved that they can hit it. I love the fearlessness and the composure.”
Today’s Elite Eight was the third-straight top-ten matchup between Oregon and Mississippi State, and the second of this season. In their game earlier this season, Ruthy Hebard held Mississippi State’s Teaira McCowan to just five points for Oregon’s first-ever win over the Bulldogs.
Today, McCowan fought for 19 points off 60 percent shooting and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds. For the Ducks, Ionescu led with 31 points, including five 3-pointers. She also had eight assists and seven rebounds. Meanwhile, Satou Sabally added 22 points and seven rebounds while Hebard netted 14 points against McCowan.
Behind 11 ties and 15 lead changes, neither team led by more than seven points. The Bulldogs outscored the Ducks in the first and third quarters, while Oregon led offensively in the second and fourth, in what was a fiercely balanced matchup.
To start, Oregon traded 3-pointers for Mississippi State’s jump-shots to lead 6-4, but an 8-0 run from the Bulldogs sent the Ducks scrambling. Oregon responded with an 8-2 run, including two 3-pointers from Ionescu and a pump-fake layup from Hebard, to tie the game with just 30 seconds left in the first quarter.
The parity in the first ten minutes would be indicative of the whole 40 minutes.
In the second quarter, the Ducks adjusted to a zone defense, and on offense, Oregon outscored Mississippi State 21-17 to enter halftime up two points at 40-38.
In the first half, Oregon bench players Lydia Giomi and Oti Gildon played a combined 16 minutes and were crucial on defense against McCowan, giving Hebard respite. On offense, the reserve forwards created scoring opportunities off-ball by working ball-screens and pick and rolls.
“We wanted to put Teaira (McCowan) in 50 ball screens,” head coach Kelly Graves said. “We started to rescreen a lot. We started to what we call step-up screens so that our kids could take the baseline a little bit more.”
Meanwhile, Hebard had a low-scoring half with just four points. Sabally and Ionescu stepped-up with a combined 25 points and 55 percent 3-point shooting.
Four ties in the third quarter made for a stressful ten minutes for the 11,534-person crowd at the Moda Center. The Bulldogs and Ducks entered the final quarter tied at 59, but a 5-0 run from Oregon to start and five made 3-pointers, three in the first five minutes, gave the Ducks the margin they needed to secure the regional title.
The Ducks advance to the Final Four in Tampa Bay and will play either No. 1-seed Baylor or No. 2-seed Iowa on Friday.
Follow Sierra Webster on Twitter @WebsterSierraE.
Third time’s the charm: Oregon women’s basketball advances to first Final Four behind historic 88-84 win
March 31, 2019
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