It put up a strong fight, but the Oregon women’s basketball team dropped a heartbreaker in the opening round of the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament Wednesday.
The ninth-seeded Ducks (13-17, 4-14 Pac-10) couldn’t capitalize on multiple opportunities in the game’s final seconds, and fell 90-89 to fourth-seeded Arizona (20-10, 10-8 Pac-10) at the Galen Center in Los Angeles.
Trailing 90-89 with six seconds left, Oregon’s freshman forward Deanna Weaver missed a pair of free throws that could have put the Ducks ahead. However, Oregon was able to secure a jump ball on the rebound of the second missed free throw. With the possession arrow in Oregon’s favor, freshman guard Ariel Thomas took the inbounds pass and put up a last-second three point shot, but it was off the mark. Moments later, the final buzzer sounded.
“We played a very good game, and I was happy with our effort of our players,” Oregon coach Paul Westhead said. “I am disappointed that we weren’t able to get the win. They played their hearts out.”
Indeed, Oregon’s effort surely wasn’t to blame for the narrow defeat. After trailing by as many as 18 points early in the second half, the Ducks made a furious comeback, trimming Arizona’s lead to one point with 4:14 left. A few minutes later, Oregon took an 87-86 lead on a three-pointer from Thomas.
When Arizona came up empty on its subsequent possession, the Ducks extended their advantage to 89-86 with 1:55 left when Thomas made a layup.
Those, however, were the last points Oregon would score. The Ducks and Wildcats traded empty possessions until Soana Lucet cut the Ducks’ lead to 89-88 at the 52-second mark with a layup of her own.
On Oregon’s ensuing possession, Deanna Weaver pulled the offensive rebound off a missed jumper from Oregon forward Amanda Johnson and got the ball back to Johnson, who was fouled with 21 seconds remaining. However, Johnson missed the front end of the one-and-one, and Arizona took advantage with another layup by Lucet that put the Wildcats back on top for good with 14 seconds remaining.
Arizona took advantage of a 54-percent shooting effort in the first half to jump out to a 51-36 halftime advantage, but the Ducks used a 10-0 run in the middle of the second half to get back in the game. Oregon also shot 53 percent in the second half after shooting only 35 percent in the first.
Overall, it was a much stronger effort from Oregon than what the Ducks put forth four days ago, when they were blown out by the Wildcats 88-65 on the Ducks’ Senior Day.
Thomas was a big reason for the improvement. On Saturday, Oregon’s diminutive point guard made only four of her 20 attempts from the field, part of Oregon’s 27 percent shooting night. Wednesday, Thomas scored a career-high 29 points on an efficient 11-for-18 shooting. She also dished out six assists — all of which came in the second half. Johnson (25 points and 11 rebounds), and Danielle Love (11 points and 13 rebounds) both had double-doubles for the Ducks, which shot 43 percent from the floor, and, surprisingly, outrebounded the Wildcats 54-42.
Nonetheless, the loss dashed any final hopes Oregon may have had of qualifying for a prominent postseason tournament. The Ducks needed to win the Pac-10 Tournament to clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, and the National Invitational Tournament, which included Oregon in its field last season, excludes teams that are under .500 in its selection criteria.
The third-tier Women’s Basketball Invitational could be an option for the Ducks, however. The 16-team tournament, which enters its second year of existence, accepted multiple teams that finished below .500 last season, including Washington and Louisville.
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Ducks come up just short in Pac-10 tournament
Daily Emerald
March 9, 2011
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