After a tough overtime loss to the Oregon State Beavers on Friday, Oregon women’s basketball coach Kelly Graves didn’t mince words. He wanted to beat the Beavers.
On Sunday night, in front of a crowd of 7,249 at Matthew Knight Arena, the Ducks granted their coach’s wish with a dominating, physical 75-63 win over the Beavers.
As the clock ticked down to triple zeroes, the crowd erupted as it celebrated the Ducks’ first win over the Beavers since 2011.
The win snaps No. 18 Oregon State’s 14-game Civil War winning streak, and brings the No. 7 Ducks (18-3, 7-1) their first victory over the Beavers in Graves’ tenure.
The Ducks’ win came on the backs of double-figure performances from their starters and rock-solid defense. Satou Sabally (21 points), Mallory McGwire (14 points), Sabrina Ionescu (15 points) and Maite Cazorla (16 points) all had standout nights in the win.
“That was a well played game,” Graves said. “I think that first 20 minutes is as good a defense that’s been in this arena since I’ve been here.”
The game got off to an ugly start offensively for both the Ducks and the Beavers, but defensively, the Ducks started strong, forcing a pair of shot clock violations along with a five-second violation on an Oregon State inbound.
McGwire provided the only spark in the quarter for the Ducks, delivering four points and three rebounds. With the Ducks trailing 3-0 early, she swatted a layup attempt from Marie Gülich, preventing the Beavers from pulling away.
The second quarter was a different story entirely. The Ducks erupted for 28 points, while holding the Beavers to just 11. In the span one minute the Ducks went on an 8-0 run. Sabally drained a pair of deep 3-pointers and McGwire pulled up to hit a mid-range jumper, while Oregon State seemed to have no answer.
Sabally wasn’t done.
With under five minutes to play in the quarter, she made an errant pass that looked like it would be a turnover. After several deflections the ball found its way to Anneli Maley, who kicked it out to Sabally, who had run to the corner of the arc. The ball swished through the net, and the freshman had her third 3-pointer of the quarter.
“After the game on Friday, I was a little upset,” Sabally said. “[Oregon State] also recruited me very highly, so it meant more to me to beat them to show I made the right decision.”
While the Beavers started to close the gap in the third and fourth quarters, the Ducks held them at arm’s length. A big part of that was the team’s shutdown of star Oregon State center Gulich, who Graves calls one of the best post players in the conference.
“It’s nice to kind of shut their crowd up,” Ionescu said. “We’re coming every game we play them now. We’re excited to get back to playing next week.”
Next up for the Ducks is a road clash with Colorado on Janu. 26 on a road trip to the mountain schools.
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