The last time Oregon women’s basketball took on California, on Jan. 7 in Berkeley, the Golden Bears corralled 63 rebounds, the most the Ducks have surrendered to an opponent this season. Thursday night, Oregon fought to keep the opposing team off the boards but caved in the second half, allowing Cal to dominate inside during a 83-71 loss at home.
Sophomore guard Layshia Clarendon paced the Golden Bears with 27 points, four rebounds, and five assists. But it was Cal’s inside players — forwards Gennifer Brandon and Reshanda Gray, along with center Talia Caldwell — that really pushed the team to victory in the second period. @@http://www.goducks.com/downloads2/446668.htm?ATCLID=205381579&SPSID=4307&SPID=236&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
@@In Oregon’s 90-67 loss to Cal in January, that trio combined for 80 points and 61 rebounds.@@ The three combined for 29 points and 26 rebounds Thursday, and their presence was felt strongly in the second half, when the Golden Bears scored 26 points in the paint to stretch a two-point lead into a comfortable 12-point victory. @@http://www.goducks.com/downloads2/446668.htm?ATCLID=205381579&SPSID=4307&SPID=236&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
“I thought we did a pretty good job in the first half keeping them off the boards,” Jasmin Holliday said. “We put a lot of emphasis on that. But then in the second half it just slipped away.”
“I think they wore us down inside and on the glass and everything else spins off of that,” head coach Paul Westhead said.
At halftime, Oregon trailed by a one bucket and was beat on the boards by only three rebounds. Cal, who is last in the Pac-12 in three-point accuracy (.284), maintained a balanced inside-out attack, scoring 10 points in the paints while also draining seven of 13 attempts from long-range. @@http://www.goducks.com/downloads2/446668.htm?ATCLID=205381579&SPSID=4307&SPID=236&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
In the second half, however, that mentality changed. After only seven combined shot attempts in the fist half, Brandon, Gray and Caldwell were fed the ball constantly late in the game with positive results. The trio scored 22 points in the second period on a combined 21 shot attempts, which led to a number of offensive rebounds and trips to the free-throw line for the road team.
“We worked at it,” Westhead said. “I thought we kind of a did a very credible job in the first half into the second half. So I don’t have an answer for, ‘Why’d it crack? What happened?’ It could be that Cal is so good on the offensive glass it’s just a matter of time.”
The good news for the Ducks’ inside play is that help could be on the way. Freshman Liz Brenner did a good job battling against Cal, putting up 12 points and four rebounds on 5 of 8 shooting in 26 minutes of play. But with senior Amanda Johnson having an off day, Cal’s three post players were simply too much for an overwhelmed Oregon interior.
The other culprit for Oregon’s shortcoming against Cal: poor free-throw shooting.  The Ducks, who are shooting 71 percent on the season, went 9 of 19 from the line against the Golden Bears, including 5 of 11 in the second half. @@http://www.goducks.com/downloads2/446668.htm?ATCLID=205381579&SPSID=4307&SPID=236&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
“Give Cal their credit — they’re a good team,” said freshman guard Ariel Thomas, who had a strong game, finishing with 13 points including three three-pointers. “We gave it up on the boards and we gave it up at the free-throw line.”
The Ducks will now be tasked with regrouping before facing No. 3 Stanford (22-1, 13-0), who is undefeated in conference play coming to Matthew Knight Arena on Saturday afternoon. @@http://www.gostanford.com/sports/w-baskbl/stats/2011-2012/teamcume.html@@
“This is probably a good test to get ready (to play Stanford),” Westhead said. “It’s a very good team to an excellent team. We had a very good workout to get ready for Stanford.”