The Oregon women’s basketball team pulled out a much needed road win Thursday, defeating UCLA 61-55 at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.
Oregon (11-9 overall, 3-7 Pacific-10 Conference) led by as many as 16 in the second half in its best conference road performance of the season.
After the Ducks built a 29-18 halftime lead, UCLA (9-10, 4-6) opened the second half on a 7-0 run to pull within four. Oregon responded with a basket by Andrea Bills and a pair of three-pointers by Chelsea Wagner to regain control of the contest at
37-25.
Oregon lead by no less than six the rest of the way, avoiding the type of second-half meltdown that had hampered it lately.
“This is a very important victory for our team,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith told KSCR (1320 AM) Radio after the game. “As close as we came to the Arizona schools, we just could feel it. We knew that we had it in our capabilities to put teams away.”
UCLA used a full-court press to overcome a 14-point second half deficit to win the season’s first meeting with the Ducks on Jan. 4 at McArthur Court. Oregon handled the Bruin’s pressure much better Thursday, closing out a confidence-building win.
“I thought we did what we needed to do in terms of the press,” Smith said. “I think we’ve turned the corner and (players) understand that they have to be disciplined and make the little things happen rather than make a big play.”
Wagner overcame a 1 of 7 first-half shooting performance to finish with a team-high 17 points. The Springfield native connected on a game-high five three pointers and has lead the team in scoring in three consecutive games.
“We talked about being aggressive,” Smith said. “You need to know your strengths. Chelsea is a shooter and shooters are going to go through phases where maybe the ball isn’t dropping like it should, but you have to keep
shooting.”
Oregon also had one of its best defensive performances of the season. The Ducks held UCLA sophomore Nikki Blue — a first team All Pac-10 selection last season — scoreless for the first 36 minutes of the game. The 5-foot-8 guard entered the game averaging 14.8 points per game, but could only muster six against the Ducks Thursday.
Bruin sophomore Lisa Willis lead all scorers with 20 points and freshman Noelle Quinn added 11 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for UCLA.
Blue, Willis and Quinn combined to shoot 15 of 48 from the field.
“Absolutely just an amazing defensive job by our perimeter players,” Smith said. “We challenged them today that this was about them. Their challenge was to stay in front of people, not do anything heroic, not do anything in terms of gambling, but just play solid defense.”
Oregon got off to an unusually strong first-half start, jumping out to an early 9-2 lead. A Wagner three-pointer with five minutes remaining gave the Ducks their biggest lead of the half at 26-13.
The first half was played at a steady pace with few stops in the action. Oregon wasn’t whistled for a foul until seven minutes remained in the half.
“This is a great way for us to start the second half of the Pac-10 season,” Smith said. “We just have to build on this.”
Bills scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Ducks, while Eleanor Haring added 11 points.
If history repeats itself, Oregon should continue to improve on its 2-7 first-half conference record. The Ducks have not had a losing second half of a conference season in 10 years and only once in the last 13 years has Oregon’s second half record been worse than the
first half.
Oregon will remain in Southern California to take on USC Saturday at 4 p.m. The Ducks fell to the Trojans 69-55 on Jan. 2 at McArthur Court in the season’s first meeting.