The Oregon women’s basketball team (5-0) had no problem dominating the Utah State University Aggies (3-2) 70-34 in a Sunday afternoon outing at Matthew Knight Arena. It wasn’t the strongest game on the offensive side, but that didn’t translate to the scoreboard, and the Ducks closed out their last home game of the month with a 36-point victory.

Oregon won the tip off and got on the board immediately with a driving layup from Ari Long. Then, a steal on the other end from Mia Jacobs (who finished the game with six) flipped the court right back. A foul drawn by Sarah Rambus gave the Ducks an early 4-0 lead.

“We really challenged Mia Jacobs defensively,” head coach Kelly Graves said. “And she showed up tonight. You could tell that was a priority for her. She took the challenge, got better, and we were better for it.”

The Ducks were sloppy handling the ball for a couple minutes after that, but still kept Utah State off the board. The offense got going again with back-to-back buckets from Rambus and Katie Fiso, which triggered an early Aggies timeout with no points on the board for the visitors..

The Oregon offense was quiet for the rest of the quarter as the Aggies went on a 7-2 run to close out the quarter and cut the Ducks’ lead to five.

After scoreless possessions by both teams, the Ducks were the first to score in the second quarter on a turnaround layup by Avary Cain. Then, an and-1 basket by the Aggies chipped away at the lead a little more. Oregon got some of it back on 3-pointers from Jacobs and Janiyah Williams, but Utah State was not going away.

The Aggies had been keeping it close, but then a scoring drought of about five minutes allowed the Ducks to push their lead back to double digits. Oregon led 32-20 at halftime, with Rambus (eight points) and Fiso (seven) on top of the box score.

“We made some mistakes,” Graves said. “It kind of got us out of sorts. Then we figured it out. In that second half, we came out and talked to them about spacing the floor — let’s simplify our execution. So we ran a couple of very simple sets and got the shots that we needed.”

The Ducks came out of the locker room ready and opened the second half with two straight 3-pointers from Jacobs and Long, which led to a Utah State timeout just under a minute in.

Jacobs credited Fiso for helping create her three-pointers. Fiso led the team in assists, finishing the game with six.

“She’s a great scorer and a great facilitator,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs hit one more 3-pointer before the Aggies finally got their first basket of the second half. Oregon didn’t flinch and kept the momentum on its side with an and-1 basket from Rambus to double Utah State’s point total. The lead was 48-22 when the Aggies called their next timeout.

“Slowing down and not letting the trap get to us,” Jacobs said, explaining what worked for the Ducks in the second half. “Limiting our turnovers. Once we slowed that down, we could move the ball. It started with our defense getting those disruptions and getting those hands in the lane really egged the run.”

It was a scoring drought for both teams from that point on. It was another five minutes before Oregon got any more points via the free throw line, and another minute and a half before it got another field goal. Fortunately for the Ducks, Utah State could not find any answers. It committed nine turnovers in the third quarter alone, while scoring just four points to extend Oregon’s lead to 29 points by the end of the quarter. It had 29 total turnovers in the game.

“We’re creating a lot to turn them over 29 times,” Graves said. “They’re a good team and we just made them look bad offensively.”

The final quarter opened with another quiet stretch of offense for both teams, but the Ducks were once again the first to find the bottom of the net three minutes in.

The Aggies answered with a couple consecutive field goals, but it was far too late. The Ducks did not play the cleanest fourth quarter, but it didn’t matter. Utah State continued to shoot itself in the foot and never found an answer for an Oregon team that outmatched it.

The Ducks are headed to Frisco, Texas where they will compete in the Hoopfest Women’s Challenge. They will return to Matthew Knight Arena Dec. 3 for a 6 p.m. matchup against in-state rival Oregon State.