Oregon women’s basketball is ready for postseason play.
The Ducks opened the afternoon in Salt Lake, Utah on a 16-3 run and never trailed, responding swiftly when Utes threatened their lead in the second half.
With a 73-65 win the Ducks (18-9, 10-5 Pac-12) secure a first round bye in the Pac-12 tournament, locking up the No. 2 seed.
“A lot of relief,” sophomore guard Sydney Parrish said. “We knew coming into the game this was big for us and Utah.”
This week, the last of the regular season, the Ducks moved back into the top 25 despite dropping two games to No. 2 ranked Stanford and unranked Colorado in a double overtime heartbreaker.
Saturday afternoon the Ducks did not play their cleanest game, turning the ball over 17 times in the absence of two-way playmaking guard Maddie Scherr. The Ducks distributed scoring as five players notched double figures to hold off the Utes with Parrish leading the way with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field.
“It hurt not having Maddie because she’s so diverse,” head coach Kelly Graves said. “I thought the other kids stepped up defensively and did a really nice job”
The Ducks led by 16 at the half, but a 17 point third quarter on 7-of-7 shooting for Jenna Johnson empowered the Utes to a 27 point third quarter, cutting the Oregon lead to 3 going into the fourth quarter.
Despite the Utes’ unconscious third quarter the Ducks maintained their composure, not allowing another close game to slip out of their grasp.
“We knew that they were gonna go on a run at some point,” Parrish said. “They are a great 3 point shooting team… We just had to get stop, score, stop.”
In limited minutes due to foul trouble Nyara Sabally kept the Oregon offense afloat in the third, scoring 6 on 3-of-3 field goals in the quarter. She scored efficiently all afternoon, finishing with 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting in only 22 minutes.
To begin the fourth quarter, up 3, Sedona Prince threw an intercepted pass resulting in a Ute run-out, cutting the lead to 1.
Instead of rolling over, the Ducks counter punched as Te-Hina Paopao responded with a 3, before Parrish went coast to coast off a stolen pass, sparking in a 9-0 run that rebuilt Oregon’s lead.
“We’re in Feb. 26 mode,” Graves remarked on how the team is progressing. “We’ve played enough games together. We’ve had some really good wins [and] some really bad losses… This was a must win. This was a playoff kind of situation and our kids responded.”
The Ducks will tip off the Pac-12 tournament Thursday March 3 against the winner of UCLA and USC.
