SAN ANTONIO — When the final buzzer sounded, capping off the Ducks round of 32 win over Georgia, Sedona Prince and Nyara Sabally embraced in a long, tight hug around midcourt, their teammates jumping with cheers around them. 

“I saw a video of us hugging after the game and that perfectly describes us and what we’ve been through,” Prince said, her eyes filled with tears.

For the redshirt sophomore, it was a full-circle moment. After she transferred from Texas her freshman year, she was plagued by an injury and then denied by the NCAA to waive her petition to play her sophomore year. 

“Watching where her and I have come, and now leading this team to the Sweet 16 is incredible and it feels so good,” Prince said. “I’m so proud of her because it’s been so difficult for the both of us, we’ve powered through so hard.”

Prince has been patiently waiting for this moment. Returning back to her home state to play in her first-ever NCAA Tournament, wearing the green and yellow, she has taken nothing for granted. 

“I watched, since the fourth grade when I started playing basketball, people celebrating this kind of moment in March,” Prince said. 

Last year, teams never saw how scary a fully healthy Prince looked. On Wednesday, she put her two-way skillset on full display, finishing with 22 points and four blocks.

Midway through the third quarter, Prince caught the ball at mid-post from Taylor Mikesell and without hesitation, pivoted off her right foot for a fadeaway jumper, bringing the Ducks’ lead to four, 33-29. A few plays after, Georgia’s Que Morrison drove into what seemed to be a wide-open lane towards the paint. A second later, Prince rotated over, jumping into the paint and swatting Morrison’s shot. 

By the end of the third quarter, Oregon held a seven-point lead behind Prince’s inspired play. She took advantage of the high-low connection between her and Sabally, dishing out crisp passes to the perimeter as the Bulldogs began to double-team her in the post. 

“Nyara [Sabally] and I talked before the fourth quarter and we were like, ‘we’re going to the Sweet 16 on our first year,’” Prince said. “It was a collective effort of, ‘we’re going to get this, we’re going to win and we’re going to the Sweet 16.’”

Prince attributed her success in Wednesday’s game due to the team’s confidence in one another. From sitting on the sidelines last year to now playing on college basketball’s biggest stage, her teammates were always there to lift her spirits up.

“Last year when I wasn’t able to play, it knocked me down pretty hard,” Prince said. “I was lucky to be on such an amazing team last year that they lifted me up and made sure that I knew that I was part of the team.”

“Playing in my home state, in a gym that I played in high school, is so amazing,” she added. “Now being able to go to the Sweet 16 and experience even more of this is going to be amazing.” 

Follow Carly on Twitter @carlyebisuya as she continues coverage of Oregon throughout the NCAA Tournament