With three minutes left in the first half, junior Ruthy Hebard hustled to grab a loose ball before dishing it to junior Sabrina Ionescu on the 3-point line. Ionescu drained the shot, spurring a late-quarter 10-0 surge to head into half up four points at 39-35.
Hebard and Ionescu came out after halftime to score all of Oregon’s third-quarter points, earning nine and eight, respectively. Meanwhile the Ducks’ defense, led by senior Maite Cazorla held the Beavers to just 11, extending Oregon’s lead to 10 points at 56-46.
“[Cazorla’s] defense in that second half, basically, won us the game,” Ionescu said. “I mean, she took Slocum completely out of what she did, and Slocum’s one of the best and quickest point guards in the country.”
No. 3 Oregon’s third-quarter momentum carried the Ducks to a 77-68 victory over the No. 9 Beavers for Oregon’s second straight win over its in-state rivals after a 14-game losing streak.
In front of a 12,364-person crowd, Ionescu led the Ducks with 29 points and nine assists, Hebard followed with another 21 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. With 18 from sophomore Satou Sabally, the three scored 68 of Oregon’s 77 points.
The Ducks held redshirt sophomore and point-guard standout Destiny Slocum to just two points in the first half. After halftime, she scored 17 points, a game-high for the half.
“She made some tough shots, let’s face it – shots with hands in her face. She made a few at the rim. She’s a heck of a player,” Graves said. “Once she decides, ‘OK I’m gonna put my head down and go,’ then she can be tough.”  
Oregon opened the game on a 7-2 run before Oregon State’s 6-foot-8-inch senior center Joanna Grymek was left wide open under the basket. Her bucket followed by a 3-pointer from Katie McWilliams tied the game at 7. Grymek dropped another under the basket to give Oregon State its first lead at 11-9 off a 9-2 run.
Behind three ties and two lead changes, the Ducks finished the quarter up 18-13. Hebard, Sabally and Ionescu each had six points while Grymek had a team-high six for Oregon State.
Slocum found her first basket midway through the second quarter off a stolen breakaway layup to put the Beavers within two points of Oregon. A 9-0 run by Oregon State earned the Beavers their second lead, but the Ducks quickly took it back to finish the half up 39-35.
In the fourth quarter, the Beavers outscored the Ducks 22-21, but behind Oregon’s third-quarter, the Oregon State comeback-attempt came too late and wasn’t enough to earn the Beavers an upset.
“For Monday, we’ve got to be better; that’s the thing. Oregon’s such a good team,” Oregon State head coach Scott Rueck said. “They made us pay for every mistake. They had so many offensive rebounds; it seemed like every freaking one turned into something positive for them.”
Oregon travels to Corvallis Monday night to play Oregon State at 6 p.m.
Follow Sierra Webster on Twitter @WebsterSierraE.