After falling to Oregon State (9-6, 1-2 in Pac-12) 88-80 at home on Saturday, the Oregon women’s basketball team (9-5, 0-3 in Pac-12) will travel to Corvallis tonight to face off with the Beavers for the second-straight game.
On Saturday, the Ducks raced out to a 19-7 lead and looked to be in control. However, Oregon fell victim to the Beavers’ scoring presence from outside and inside the paint. Oregon State guard Sydney Wiese drained seven three-pointers from behind the arc, and center Ruth Hamblin, who averaged just six points a game coming into the matchup, exploded for 27. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=236&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=209369835@@
Sophomore Jillian Alleyne, who is tied for the nation’s most rebounds per game at 13.9, paced the Ducks on Saturday with 26 points. Despite her high scoring output, Alleyne and the entire Oregon team will have to do a better job stopping Hamblin in the paint if they want any chance at splitting the home-and-home series with the Beavers. @@http://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-women/d1@@
With the loss Saturday, Oregon has now lost six games in a row to the Beavers.
The tempo at which the Ducks play was a huge factor in the previous match up with the Beavers. After the game, head coach Paul Westhead told reporters that he liked the pace in the first half, but the second half was a different story.
“We weren’t able to answer back with a faster pace,” Westhead said. “They’re a very good team, they’re very efficient. In this system, pretty good doesn’t work.”
The Ducks can get in the win column in conference play with a victory over Oregon State Monday night. They are 0-3 in the Pac-12 after losses to the Beavers, California and Stanford.
The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Network, with tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.
Follow Joseph Hoyt on Twitter @jhoyt42