A rare Washington win sets the stage for a rare chance at redemption for Oregon.
For the first time in six years, the Washington women’s basketball team defeated the Ducks — in an 88-80 battle in Seattle on Saturday.
The loss ends the regular season for Oregon (15-12 overall, 10-8 Pacific-10 Conference), which holds the No. 7 seed for the inaugural Pac-10 Tournament. The Ducks host the first game of the conference tournament Friday against 0-18 Washington State, a team Oregon beat 88-47 Thursday in Pullman.
Assuming they get past the Cougars, the Ducks will again play the Huskies, the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, at McArthur Court on Saturday at noon.
“It’s the card that’s been dealt to us and we just have to take advantage of it,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith said Sunday. “We’re just so excited to be here in Eugene, with the opportunity to play four games on our home court.”
To even get to the semifinals of the tournament, though, the Ducks will have to knock out the Huskies (17-11, 12-6), who have not won in Eugene in nine years, but showed they can beat Oregon.
“We knew in the back of our minds about the whole Oregon rivalry,” Washington guard Loree Payne said of the Huskies’ 12-game losing streak to the Ducks. “We wanted to get some momentum going into the tournament. The key is playing well going into the Pac-10 Tournament and carry that over into the NCAA Tournament.”
Oregon trailed by as much as 19 in the second half, but Cathrine Kraayeveld hit a three-pointer with 2:05 to play to cut Washington’s lead to 79-71. From there, though, the game belonged to Giuliana Mendiola.
The Washington sophomore guard sank 15-of-17 free throws and scored a career high 31 points against the Ducks.
“When I am out there I am pretty confident in myself,” Mendiola said. “If I have the shot I am going to take the shot or I look for my teammates. I just try to create whatever is best for our team and what puts us in a position to win.”
The Huskies jumped the gun for an early 9-1 lead, but Oregon bounced back with a 14-6 run to tie the game at 15 with 12:51 to play in the first half. The rest of the half, however, was all Washington, as it used a 30-18 run to take a 45-33 lead into the break.
Washington shot better than 57 percent in the first half, compared to Oregon’s 39 percent shooting.
“They just came out in the first half and shot the lights out,” Williams said. “We know that they are a team that shoots the ball and when they get on a roll like that it is tough to get them stopped. They got off to a good start and we were playing catch up the whole game.”
Washington’s 88 points were its second most in a Pac-10 game this season.
“We must have got a little bit lost in that bus ride from Pullman,” Smith said of the five-hour trip to Seattle. “Defensively, we just weren’t there.”
Oregon freshman center Andrea Bills recorded the first double-double of her career with 16 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. Williams also added 16 points.
Kraayeveld, a Kirkland, Wash., native, had a rough homecoming as she scored just four points on 1-of-7 shooting.
The Huskies took advantage as four players scored in double figures.
“We played a phenomenal game on defense and offensively it was exciting to see us shoot the ball that way,” said Washington head coach June Daugherty, who led the Huskies to the Elite Eight last year. “We got a lot of mismatches, we were able to post up our guards, and we got Oregon on their heels a little and took advantage of the foul situation.
“Obviously we like to save our best for last.”
The last will come Saturday at Mac Court, where the Huskies last won on Jan. 23, 1993.