This was the desire last spring, when head coach Kelly Graves assembled parts of his roster to prepare it for any possibility in a long women’s basketball season. 

Sometimes, a player is sidelined by injury. Another is limited by foul trouble. A third is having an off night.

No matter what happened, or who was doing what, Oregon women’s basketball would have ample players who could get the job done.

And if everyone happened to play well on the same night? Well, that’s just a bonus.

Oregon enjoyed that sort of celebration in its season-opening Monday night win, with the Wolves being little competition for a bigger, faster, tougher Oregon team. Mia Jacobs and Elisa Mevius each had 16 and 15 points apiece for a Ducks team whose effort and intensity were the only things slowing itself down in a clear blowout. 

Even for a first game of the season against a far-travelled, far less talented team, this game was lopsided. Oregon had 28 points off turnovers, shot 46% from the field and might have outscored Western Georgia on breakaway layups off steals alone. 

Defensively, the Ducks forced 32 UWG turnovers, which translated into 41 Oregon points.

Graves, however, was less pleased with his team’s overall performance, citing 29 third quarter points and late offensive sloppiness as a bit of a letdown overall. 

“It was kind of a tale of two halves,” Graves said to begin his postgame remarks. “The first half I thought we did a really good job defensively in a lot of ways, and we made it difficult, and then we kind of forgot in the second half that we have to play on that end of the floor.”

Some forgiveness, however, may be in order for a team that led 48-13 at the half and held UWG to just three points in the second quarter. 

When playing in the half-court, the Ducks’ bevy of guards always seemed to find the open woman, with Sarah Rambus — and her silky mid-range shot — often the beneficiary. Katie Fiso had a 10-point, 10-assist double-double in just 23 minutes of action. 

“I thought Katie Fiso did a great job,” Graves said. “She got us started; in the second half, she became more of a distributor, and that was nice.”

In another uplifting sign, the Ducks received excellent guard play to go with dominance from Mia Jacobs, who looked every bit the top-tier scorer that Graves expected her to be out of the portal. 

“She had a nice stretch,” Graves said of Jacobs. “She’s gonna be that way, (and) she’s not a flashy player, but she’s a productive player.” 

Oregon’s win was far from perfect, but a win of any kind is noteworthy in college basketball. The Ducks will take on Grand Canyon University and Army at home on Nov. 11 and Nov. 16.