Oregon women’s basketball (7-3, 0-1 Big Ten) already had one top-25 win under its belt at Matthew Knight Arena this season — but No. 6 USC (8-1, 1-0 Big Ten) posed a different kind of challenge.
The Ducks played a Big Ten conference game for the first time ever on Saturday. An inaugural victory wasn’t in the cards as Oregon fell 66-53 to the sixth-ranked team in the nation, led by the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year Juju Watkins.
“Disappointed on the loss, but I was encouraged by our fight,” head coach Kelly Graves said. “We played a lot more desperate in that second half.”
It was a messy start to the game. The Trojans struggled to shoot the ball, going on a three-minute scoring drought. Oregon had the opportunity to pull ahead early but turned the ball over three times in that span.
Finally, the Ducks found their rhythm.
A pair of Peyton Scott buckets and a Sofia Bell triple forced USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb to take time with 5:45 left in the first.
“We knew it wouldn’t be easy,” Gottlieb said. “It started off a little slow, and I thought our response to the beginning of the first quarter was really exceptional in an area of growth that we’ve been looking towards.”
Watkins was coming off her season-high in points on Tuesday against California Baptist. She set a Trojans’ record of nine 3-pointers in that game.
But Oregon held Watkins without a field goal to give it a narrow 13-12 advantage at the end of a rough shooting quarter for both sides.
That quickly changed once she got going, hitting four of her next five shots to abruptly put the game in favor of USC by 14 points.
By halftime, the Trojans had a 21-point advantage and Watkins ended with 15 first-half points, The Ducks shot 2-for-18 in the second quarter and were outscored 28 to six.
“I think our energy, our communication, kind of all fell off,” Oregon guard Deja Kelly said. “Just heading into that second quarter obviously, they took advantage of that from the 3-point line, interior as well.”
Oregon entered the game without a loss at Matthew Knight Arena this season. The crowd got louder and louder with every first-quarter bucket on Saturday but seemed to grow frustrated as the Ducks’ chances of continuing the home winning streak dwindled.
A glimmer of hope remained when Watkins picked up her fourth foul as soon as the third quarter started. Kiki Iriafen recorded her third foul shortly after but Oregon couldn’t go on a run with the two on the bench.
“Every time that I’m not in the game, I’m confident that my team is going to hold it down,” Watkins said. “Because that’s what we prepare for, that’s what we’re trained to do. So props to them.”
The Ducks continued fighting until the final whistle. Ari Long had a scoring burst at the end of the third quarter and Kelly led the team with 16 points. They just couldn’t cut into the deficit.
“We had some unsung heroes. Ari Long came in, did a great job tonight,” Graves said. “She’s been working hard practice and she kind of gets labeled a shooter, but we’ve noticed she’s more than that.”
Oregon shot just 15 percent from beyond the arc, which played a major role in the loss. The Ducks ended up scoring more points than the Trojans in every period except for the massive second quarter which ultimately decided the game.
“In our three losses this year, I think we’re six for 46 from the 3-point line,” Graves said. “Against three NCAA tournament teams, you’re not going to win.”
Oregon has now lost three of its last four games after starting the season 6-0. The Ducks will take a 10-day break before returning to Matthew Knight Arena on Dec. 17 to play Air Force.
