In the fourth quarter, Angela Dugalic pushed the ball upcourt off a Utah miss with Sydney Parrish on the left side leading the break with her. With a two-on-two situation, Dugalic sent a no-look, cross-body bounce pass to Parrish, who finished the break with an easy left hand layup.

The bench erupted in cheers, the players were on their feet and extended Oregon’s commanding 82-32 lead over the Utah Utes. 

Unselfish, yet smart plays led to Oregon’s second straight Pac-12 win to start conference play. 

From the get go, the Ducks exploited the Utes, who had yet to play a game this season, continuing a hot start to Pac-12 play with a 85-43 win. Oregon extended its winning streak to 23 games, which dates back to last season. 

Oregon’s freshmen shined in the blowout win.

Freshman Te-Hina Paopao led the attack on the offensive end with 17 points and four assists for Oregon.

Impressive bench play also bolstered Oregon’s lead this game. Dugalic chipped in nine points and nine rebounds in just under 15 minutes of play, and Parrish had a breakout game of her own with 11 points and four rebounds. 

“They weren’t looking at the score, they were playing hard,” Oregon head coach Kelly Graves said. “Those were important minutes for them. You’ve got to earn your time, it’s not given to them and I loved the energy in which they played.”

With the Ducks up big late in the second half, the bench players took advantage of their playing time and had the opportunity to shine in their own way. 

“We had a young group out there for a long period of time, and it just kind of came to us,” Parrish said. “We just started playing as a team, we got the ball to open players and we were playing really good basketball.” 

Even though an offensive mix shined in Sunday’s game, it was Oregon’s dominant defense that led the way .The Ducks, mostly known for their scoring ability and offensive weapons, showed their defensive improvements by limiting the Utes to 4-for-26 from three point range and 29% shooting on the night. 

“Coming out and playing, we were just in sync,” Oregon’s Jaz Shelley said. “We’ve been working really hard on that. Mark [Campbell] is a really good defensive coach and it’s been really good and we’ve been locking people down.”

Oregon’s starters set the defensive tone early in the game by flying across the court, tipping passes, crashing the glass and helping the helper on rotations. As a team, they held Utah’s top scorers Bryanna Maxwell and Dru Glyen to a combined nine points and 1-for-6 from three point land, respectively. 

“Coming into the season, people didn’t have us being such a great defensive team, not really aggressive, kind of slow, but I think we’ve been proving people wrong,” Parrish said. “We’ve been stepping up on the defensive end because we know the offense will come with our defense.” 

Follow Carly on Twitter @carlyebisuya.