Fear made an appearance at McArthur Court on Saturday.
For the second consecutive game, the Ducks let their opportunities to win slip through their fingers in the final minutes. Arizona State picked up the pieces for a 69-67 victory.
“We’re scared to win,” Oregon guard Chelsea Wagner said. “We’re just holding the ball, hoping the clock will run out and we’ll be ahead. We worked so hard throughout that entire game for 37 minutes, and we’re scared to win. We won’t finish it off.”
Wagner led the Ducks with a season-high 20 points after coming in 35 seconds after tip-off for injured starter Kedzie Gunderson, who might have a torn meniscus in her knee, Oregon head coach Bev Smith said.
The Ducks (10-9 overall, 2-7 Pacific-10 Conference) tried to improve on the positives from their Thursday loss to Arizona, but when it came down to the last four minutes, Oregon found itself on familiar footing.
Ahead by eight, the Ducks went on a dry spell just in time for the Sun Devils to make a 10-point run.
Oregon didn’t score another point until center Andrea Bills made a free throw with 27 seconds remaining to push the Ducks to within one, 66-65.
The Sun Devils (12-6, 6-3) scored their final three points on free throws. Point guard Corrie Mizusawa made a layup with 1.8 seconds left to cut the score to 69-67, but the Ducks didn’t get another shot attempt.
“Today I felt they were really ready to get it done,” Smith said. “With three minutes left you can almost feel it in Mac Court. It seems like we’re scared to lose.”
The Ducks missed four shot attempts in the final four minutes and had two passes picked off. They committed seven fouls during that span, including three in the final minute.
“We need to play for 40 minutes,” guard Brandi Davis said. “We have to be able to put teams away.”
The loss was Oregon’s third in its last four games and its fourth at home this season.
“I really believe we’re just not aggressive offensively,” Smith said. “We’ve just got to go out and do it.”
Much like Thursday’s loss to Arizona, Oregon was outshot on the free-throw line. With 46 total fouls called Saturday, the Sun Devils made 82.8 percent of their attempts while the Ducks hit 65.4 percent.
Arizona State was 10 for 14 from the line in the final four minutes.
“Making those free-throws is part of that confidence thing,” Smith said. “It’s where you can put the hammer down. We did a better job, but it was not enough.”
Saturday’s loss was the fourth time this season that the Ducks outrebounded their opponent — grabbing 33 to Arizona State’s 32 — and still lost the game. Bills led the way with eight while Wagner added six.
“That’s something we had wanted to work on,” Wagner said. “We wanted to make sure they didn’t get any offensive rebounds.”
Davis was Oregon’s second-leading scorer with 13 points, while Bills contributed 11. Mizusawa and forward Eleanor Haring both had 10 points. For the first time this season, Oregon had five players score in double figures.
Gunderson was scheduled to have an MRI by the end of the weekend.
Wagner played her second-consecutive game with a brace on her knee. She also had her left ankle re-taped in the final minutes after she rolled it coming down from a shot.