CORVALLIS, Ore. — The No. 2 Oregon Ducks fell in a dramatic 67-62 upset to their state rivals, the No. 12 Oregon State Beavers, in Monday’s Civil War conclusion. While Oregon’s star forward Ruthy Hebard spent the majority of the game benched with an injury, both teams played in a game that will long be remembered.
Here are three takeaways from the game: 
An injured Hebard leads to a shorter Oregon bench
In the second quarter, Oregon power forward Hebard took a sharp fall onto her right leg. She immediately left the court and took a seat on the Oregon bench. The junior wouldn’t play the rest of the game.
Oregon has managed to play all its games with just nine players, knowing very well that one sharp injury to a starter could be deadly.
It’s unknown how severe Hebard’s injury is or for how long she’ll be out, but no matter the case, Oregon needs to find a way to play without her.
In Monday’s game, Oregon tried to use its bench players to take a larger role, but it wasn’t enough. OSU outscored the Ducks 24-4 in points off the bench. Even keeping Ionescu in for the full 40 minutes for the first time this season, didn’t lead to the win the Ducks so desperately wanted.
With only four games remaining in the regular season, the Ducks will need to solve this problem fast with selection Monday one month away.
Ionescu vs Slocum
In the 2017 Sweet 16, Sabrina Ionescu and Destiny Slocum met on the court in Oregon’s 77-63 upset of then-seeded No. 3 Maryland. Ionescu went on to be named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and Slocum earned the Big-10 equivalent.
Now, two seasons later, Slocum moved westward to the Beavers and two met again during this weekend’s Civil War.
On Friday, Ionescu scored a game-high 29 points with nine assists, while Solcum scored a team-high 19 points with three assists.
Yet after Monday’s game, it was Slocum who embraced her teammates, jumping up and down in the center of the court. As Ionescu walked toward the locker room, head hung low as teammate Satou Sabally put her arm around her back. 
“[Ionescu’s] one of the best players in the nation for a reason,” Oregon head coach Kelly Graves said. “She’ll learn from this, believe me. This will eat at her and this will drive her this next weekend and the following weekend after that, that’s who she is.”
Ionescu ended with a team-high 21 points and seven rebounds, and Slocum scored 20 points with three rebounds. Each ended with four assists. 
While Slocum is no triple-double queen, her team’s win over Ionescu reminds us that even the best players on the best teams can be taken down in a single night.
Bigger than state bragging rights
The Ducks and Beavers may have split the weekend for the second consecutive year, but after Monday’s upset, the Beavers might just hold an upper hand in state bragging rights.
Currently ranked at No. 2, Oregon knows it wears a target. It knows that each team it plays against, dreams of upsetting the Ducks.
And so far this conference season, OSU has been the only one to succeed in taking them down.
Oregon’s loss to the Beavers ended a two-game winning streak against their state rivals. The Ducks sold out Matthew Knight Arena Friday night during its 77-68 win. And three days later, OSU did the same at Gill Coliseum in tonight’s victory.
This shows that state of Oregon, which hasn’t had a WNBA team in 17 years, is finally giving women’s basketball the respect it deserves. With two great collegiate teams coming out of its biggest colleges, you can’t help but see the upward trend of popularity within the sport.
“It’s not just that it’s full houses, I mean that’s an amazing thing, but the quality of basketball that is being played on these two teams is unbelievable,” Oregon State coach Scott Rueck said.
Follow Maggie Vanoni on Twitter @maggie_vanoni