After ten minutes, it was clearly the sort of game where Oregon’s goals were fairly simple: avoid a remarkable collapse and avoid injuries while improving as much as possible against a severely overmatched opponent. 

After the first quarter, UC Irvine had four points. That told everyone all they needed to know about the talent discrepancy on the court. 

Oregon women’s basketball (9-3, 0-1 Big Ten ) succeeded on almost all fronts Tuesday night, in a 71-43 win over the UC Irvine Anteaters (7-4, 1-0 Big West).

There wasn’t much to complain about except maybe some defensive slippage and a few sloppy, substitution-filled stretches in a game with little intrigue. The Ducks’ 14-point first-quarter lead soon swelled to 18 just a few minutes into the second frame forcing Anteaters head coach, Tamara Inoue to call several timeouts in search of answers on both sides of the ball. 

None would come. Oregon soon led by 20 and rolled up a 26-point advantage with a quarter to go in the type of beatdown that would have seemed laughable a year ago. 

Freshman Katie Fiso led all scorers with 11 points while Alex Whitfield tallied 10 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals off the bench. Things looked less prosperous early in the game as the Ducks started the contest 0-9 from the floor, but the offense kicked into gear and the defense stifled. Head coach Kelly Graves’ team was largely unchallenged the rest of the way. 

Fiso returned after a hiatus away from the team for personal reasons, and she put in a complete performance, adding a career-high in points in just 14 minutes. 

10 different Ducks added baskets with nine adding five or more points. 

Oregon was crisp on the defensive end as well, holding UC Davis to shoot just 25% from the floor with no scorers in double digits. The Anteaters were 6-20 from 3-point range, but turned the ball over a whopping 19 times. 

UC Irvine entered on the heels of an impressive win over Oregon State, but the Ducks were just too big, too physical and too tough. The Anteaters often had no choice but to foul, repeatedly sending Oregon to the free-throw line where the Ducks cashed in. 

Oregon made 12 of 17 tries on its way to scoring 70 points for the ninth time this year. 

There was a moment to celebrate in the first-half when Peyton Scott made a free throw to hit 2,000 points for her remarkable career. The milestone was acknowledged with a graphic on the video board per the broadcast.

Next up is a more notable challenge. Oregon will take on Illinois (9-2, 0-1 Big Ten) in Champaign on Dec 28. 

In just a few days, against a more formidable foe, the Ducks can get back to chasing bigger goals.