Micaela Cocks scored 17 points, including a career-high five three-pointers, and Nicole Canepa had 13 points and six rebounds in her first start of the season, but Oregon (3-4) couldn’t overcome the physical play of Georgia Tech and lost to the Yellow Jackets (8-2), 74-59, at the Rose Garden in Portland during the Pape Jam.
Though the Ducks shot better than the Yellow Jackets (50 percent to 45.5 percent), they were outrebounded 31-21 and committed 27 turnovers to Georgia Tech’s 18.
Georgia Tech forward Alex Montgomery scored 18 points with four rebounds and four steals, earning Player of the Game honors. Guard Jacqua Williams scored 16 points and had three rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Oregon’s largest lead of the game came with 12:02 in the first half, when Cocks hit a three-pointer to put the Ducks up 13-11. The Yellow Jackets responded with a 23-11 run spanning the duration of the half, entering the locker room with a 34-24 lead. In the second half, the Ducks yet again outshot the Yellow Jackets by percentage (64.7 percent to 48.4), but rebounds (14-9) and turnovers (13-8) in favor of Georgia Tech led to 14 more shot attempts (31 to 17). The Yellow Jackets converted on 15 of them, supported by 7-8 free throws.
Oregon guard Taylor Lilley started the game and scored three points on 1-3 shooting (1-2 from three-point range)with three assists, two rebounds and five turnovers in 16 minutes. Lilley, the Ducks’ leading scorer last season, had been kept out of the Ducks’ first six regular-season games with a shin injury.