The Oregon women’s basketball team began the Pacific-10 Conference portion of its schedule with a pair of losses at Arizona and Arizona State. The two defeats dropped the Ducks’ record to 9-4 overall, 0-2 in league play.
On Friday at the University of Arizona, Oregon’s offense had little trouble putting up points but came up short against the Wildcats, 109-94. The Ducks’ defense was unable to contain Arizona’s offense — Oregon surrendered a season high in points and opponent’s field goal percentage (64.8 percent).
Still, Oregon’s offense helped keep the game close. The Ducks actually took a 63-61 lead early in the second half until Arizona went on a 32-14 run to gain a 93-77 lead with under seven minutes remaining to secure the victory.
Amanda Johnson led the Ducks in scoring with 16 points, Ashley Buis added 15, Nicole Canepa had 14 and Nia Jackson tallied 13 and a team-high eight rebounds.
Shanita Arnold led the host Wildcats (11-2, 2-0 Pac-10) with 25 points on an efficient 11 of 13 shooting, while Ify Ibekwe added 19 and a team-high 14 rebounds.
On Sunday at Arizona State, Oregon scored a season-low in points in an 86-67 loss to the Sun Devils. The 19-point margin of defeat was also Oregon’s largest of the season.
The Ducks shot only 39.1 percent from the floor while allowing the Sun Devils to shoot 48.5 percent. Arizona State also outrebounded Oregon 46-31 and had 19 assists to the Ducks’ eight.
Jackson led Oregon with 17 points and four assists, Canepa added 13 points, and Ariel Thomas chipped in 10 off the bench. However, Johnson, the team’s leading scorer on the season, was held to only six points.
Kimberly Brandon scored 19 points and had 12 rebounds to lead Arizona State, and Dymond Simon chipped in 15 points for the Sun Devils (10-2, 2-0 Pac-10)
Oregon will return home this week to take on Washington State and Washington in the last weekend of play at McArthur Court. Tipoff against Washington State is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday.
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