Eleven games into the Pacific-10 Conference season, Oregon’s women’s basketball team couldn’t have expected Thursday’s home matchup with UCLA to be easy. At 3-8 in conference play, the Ducks aren’t in contention for postseason play — their main motivation is improvement. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of that against the Bruins.
The Ducks fell by 27 points, with the final score 75-48. The performance was only a slight improvement on a 24-point loss to UCLA on Jan. 15. Oregon’s final point tally was its lowest of the entire season, which isn’t surprising considering the club shot a dismal 25 percent from the field.
“This is a hard one to comment on. I thought we were well prepared, and at the end of the night, one way or the other we have to make shots and we shot 25 percent,” Oregon head coach Paul
Westhead said. “I think UCLA played well enough to beat us, I think we had an opportunities because they weren’t shooting the ball well either, but that being said we have to cash in on the other end.”
Oregon was outrebounded 61-29, attempted 12 less free throws than the Bruins, and did not have a single player score in double digits.
The loss was the Ducks’ fifth in a row and their least competitive defeat.
“I never worry about strings. Winning strings or losing strings,” Westhead said. “We need to be alert and attentive that the next game against USC is a winnable game.”
However, there were some positives in the blowout loss. The Ducks kept the contest competitive despite the absence of top scorer Nia Jackson, who is still nursing two knee injuries.
Oregon also improved its sloppy ballhandling from the previous contest. The Ducks lost the ball 31 times in their last game against UCLA, but reduced that number to nine.
“A major difference is that we cut our turnovers in half from that first game down there,” Westhead said. “I think in that first game down there we were like turnover city, and in this game that was not the case. There were some good things in this game. But they aren’t good things if you don’t score.”
The team didn’t start the game badly, and held a five-point lead after a Tatianna Thomas three-pointer near the 17-minute mark. But two minutes later, the Bruins had tied the game up at 13 apiece, part of a 15-0 run that gave the visitors an 11-point advantage.
UCLA grabbed a 10-point lead by the midway point in the first half and with four minutes left the Bruins were up 15.
The halftime score of 44-23 was a minor improvement over the Ducks previous game against the visitors from Southern California, in which Oregon mustered only 18 in the first segment of play.
The second half went much better offensively for the Ducks, with the hometown team scoring 25 versus the Bruins’ 31. The Ducks continued to struggle with their outside shots but remained aggressive, getting to the line 16 times in the second half.
Thomas and Deanna Weaver finished behind Johnson with seven points each.
Oregon now stands 3-9 in conference play and will take on USC at Matthew Knight Arena Saturday at 2 p.m.
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Oregon women continue struggles with loss to No. 9 UCLA
Daily Emerald
February 10, 2011
Ivar Vong
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