Kaela Chapdelaine saw the ball bounce off the rim, leapt up and clutched the ball.
Taylor Lilley breaks out of shooting slump emphaticallyHow do you come back from an 0-for-12 shooting performance? According to guard Taylor Lilley, keep shooting. Going to the hoop helps, too. Lilley returned from her zero-point effort – including eight missed three-pointers – in last Thursday’s loss to South Dakota State to post a team-high 17 points, including the game-winning layup, as Oregon beat Marquette 57-56 Tuesday night. Lilley also had three assists and three steals. “My shot really has been feeling good even in the game on Thursday, I mean my rhythm was fine but it was just the ball wasn’t dropping,” Lilley said. “Today you know it was back and it felt good out there.” It only took 23 seconds to make that forgettable performance a thing of the past. Lilley’s three right after the tipoff scored the first points in the game. They were her only points of the half, however, and paralleled Oregon’s poor start as a team in the first half. The second half, however, was a different story. Not only did her layup almost four minutes in bring the Ducks to within three points of the Golden Eagles, it began an eight-minute, 12-point scoring surge by the sophomore. But instead of sticking by the three-point line exclusively, Lilley took her defender to the hoop aggressively twice, too. Lilley’s score with 58 seconds left put Oregon ahead by one and proved to be the game-winner. “I’ve been working on driving a lot and especially this past week or past couple days in practice we’ve really been going hard and you know the lane was wide open, so I just took it,” Lilley said. On one occasion Lilley took advantage of a slow rotating help defense en route to a baseline layup. Her next trip down to the paint, she lost her defender with a ball fake at the three-point line before slicing to the hoop. For Oregon coach Bev Smith, Lilley’s aggressiveness was just a matter of recognizing the poor defensive alignment and making the smart play. “She took advantage of her opportunities and she tried to do different things not only shooting the ball, but she tried to put the ball on the floor get to the hoop,” Smith said. “Any time you can have a so-so night and get 17 points I think that’s a pretty good line for her, as well.” – Andrew Greif |
She pulled the ball back out, Oregon passed it around the perimeter and the buzzer sounded. The women’s basketball team ran on the court and celebrated a 57-56 upset of Marquette Tuesday night.
Five days after losing to South Dakota State, Oregon responded with poise in the closing minutes.
The Ducks (2-1) trailed 55-56 when Taylor Lilley took a handoff from Micaela Cocks, found an opening and drove the lane for a layup with a minute left.
Marquette (2-1) isolated forward Erin Monfre on the left wing. She backed down her defender, spun and watched her jumper bounce off the lip of the rim. Chapdelaine popped up and grabbed the ball.
After an Oregon timeout, the Ducks had the ball with 35 seconds and found Lilley for a three-pointer at the top of the key with the shot clock running down and 13 seconds remaining. The shot missed, and again there was Chapdelaine, who snatched the ball and Oregon ran out the clock.
“You can see the importance of rebounds in a game like this,” Chapdelaine said.
The senior, who’s known for scrappy play, had a familiar stat line of 10 points, six rebounds, two assists and a steal. Coach Bev Smith rotated Chapdelaine along three positions – the three, the four, the five.
“I think it’s a quintessential performance by her,” Smith said.
Oregon also benefited from bounce-back performances by Lilley and Nicole Canepa.
Lilley, following an 0-for-12 performance last game, made 6 of 12 shots from the field, including 3 of 7 from three-point range.
Canepa spent much of the South Dakota State game attached to the bench and played through foul trouble again Tuesday with 16 points and five rebounds. She played 12 more minutes (27) than the last game and scored 10 of her points in the second half.
“I think Nicole was outstanding again,” Smith said. “She is a battler.”
Oregon now travels today to New Mexico for the New Mexico Thanksgiving Tournament in Albuquerque.
“I think we’re going to roll with this momentum,” Chapdelaine said. “We’re not going down there to New Mexico this weekend just to get a win. We’re going to win this tournament.”
Oregon starts with a 5 p.m. game on Friday against Coppin State and plays either Nicholls State or New Mexico on Saturday night.
Oregon received production from its bench, specifically guards Cocks and Nia Jackson. Cocks had five points and three rebounds in 30 minutes and Jackson gave the Ducks two points, two rebounds and three steals in 12 minutes.
“They are very exciting players,” Chapdelaine said. “Micaela is a great spark off the bench. She is a great scorer. She’s got that versatility – the dribble jumper, going for the lay-in, the three-point (shot) and Nia is such an intense and fireball kind of guard. She really sets the tone defensively for us.”
Marquette’s Krystal Ellis sat out with a sprained right knee after scoring 31 points in the Golden Eagles’ upset of No. 25 Wisconsin. The loss of the team’s starting point guard pushed reserve forward Monfre into the starting lineup.
Smith just received video of the Marquette-Wisconsin game Tuesday afternoon and learned at game-time the guard was sitting out.
“We’re trying to figure out life without Krystal Ellis right now and with your All-American candidate sitting on the bench our team is just trying to figure out who we are and I thought for the most part we fought and we did great things,” Marquette coach Terri Mitchell said.
Svetlana Kovalenko provided the offense for Marquette with 20 points on 9 of 15 shooting. Angel Robinson was the only other Golden Eagle in double figures with 10 points.
Marquette started the game with a 14-3 run as Oregon struggled offensively. Cocks nailed a three-pointer and a jumper to cut the deficit to seven, 16-9. Chapdelaine then went on a scoring spree of her own with 10 points in the final seven minutes as Oregon trailed 31-28 at halftime.
Oregon tied it at 38 on a Lilley three-pointer six minutes into the second half and went ahead by two, 40-38, on a Canepa layup. The Ducks widened its lead to eight, 50-42, on two Lilley free throws.
Marquette’s 14-5 run culminated with a 56-55 lead on a Kovalenko layup before Chapdelaine and Lilley’s heroics in the final minute.
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