Halfway through Pacific-10 Conference play, the Oregon women’s basketball team is looking to change its fate.
The Ducks (10-9 overall, 2-7 Pac-10) travel to Los Angeles to take on UCLA at 7 p.m. Thursday and USC at 4 p.m. Saturday in search of their second conference win on the road.
The start of the season’s second half gives Oregon an opportunity to finish strong: finish a play, finish a game and finish a season.
“The one thing we need to work on is finishing games at the end,” point guard Corrie Mizusawa said. “Against Arizona and ASU, we had chances to win at the end and we just didn’t come through and make plays. We’ve been playing well for 35 and 38 minutes but just not finishing the game.”
The Ducks are even running end-of-game situational drills during their practices to help them with their approach if they’re ahead or behind with a few minutes remaining.
“We’re a little more tentative on offense,” Mizusawa said. “Just kind of waiting instead of not being aggressive. That’s the thing we’re working on in practice — being more aggressive no matter how much time is left on the clock.”
The Ducks have had the lead in the waning minutes more often than not in their Pac-10 games, but Oregon has let as large of a lead as 12 points slip away to become a loss.
Thursday, Oregon gave up a six-point lead to Arizona before the Wildcats turned the game around and earned the win, 70-66. Against Arizona State on Saturday, the Ducks held an eight-point lead with four minutes remaining. The Sun Devils went on a 13-3 run to close the game and earn the 69-67 victory.
“Our players certainly understand that both of those games were within our hands,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith said. “It’s just a matter of extending 37 good minutes of basketball to 40. Playing UCLA and USC is a great opportunity for us to get back and play those games for 40 minutes and get back on the winning track.”
Leading the Ducks offensively is center Andrea Bills. The junior is scoring an average of 12.1 points per game and leads Oregon with 8.4 rebounds on average.
“We’re just going to keep focusing on what we’ve always focused on,” forward Eleanor Haring said. “Mainly rebounding and defense. It’s the same focus — keep going hard and keep pushing.”
The focus has paid off for the Ducks in their preseason and against Oregon State and Washington State. In its last 10 games, Oregon is 2-8 with the conference victories the only bright spots on its schedule.
A scare regarding starting forward Kedzie Gunderson’s lateral meniscus in her left knee was a false alarm. An MRI on her left knee came back negative. Gunderson went down 35 seconds into Saturday’s game and returned to the bench for the second half but did not play.
Sophomore Chelsea Wagner partially tore the lateral meniscus in her left knee in the Jan. 15 game at Washington. Wagner’s MRI six days later confirmed the tear, and the guard now plays with a brace on her left knee.
Oregon opens the road trip with a game against the Bruins. In this season’s first match between the two teams, the Ducks had a 14-point lead in the second half before UCLA implemented a full-court press that led to a 20-4 run for the Bruins. The Jan. 4 game ended in a 63-57 victory for UCLA.
The Ducks opened Pac-10 home play against the Trojans on Jan. 2 with a 69-55 loss. Oregon committed 24 turnovers in the game and USC led 21-6 after the first nine minutes.
“We had chances to beat them here,” Mizusawa said. “So going on the road is going to be tough for us, but I think we’re ready to go. Especially with a great week of practice so far.”