Rotations, the lineups that Oregon women’s basketball head coach Kelly Graves deploys to help maximize his team’s minutes while offering different size, defensive and scoring looks, can change drastically from game to game.

Injuries, hot streaks and just general situational feel dictate that much. Still, regardless of the opponent’s ability or size, having a big three of Katie Fiso, Sofia Bell and Mia Jacobs on the floor is generally a good thing.

Generally.

With Jacobs in a funk and Sarah Rambus in a groove against Penn State on Jan. 24, Graves turned to Rambus early as his primary big — and the center dominated, adding a career-high 20 points on 9-13 shooting.

“It was a good crowd today, and my mom was in the crowd,” Rambus said of the performance. “All my teammates were hitting me in the right spots, and all I’ve got to do is knock them down for them.”

Rambus is perhaps the Ducks’ most singular player, with her size — Oregon notably doesn’t roster a player over 6-foot-4 — leading to a double-edged sword of mismatches and tough assignments.

Still, you have a player blessed with rare traits who can take over a game on both ends of the court, you use her as much as possible, right?

Maybe not.

Graves has instead used Rambus sparingly, with the junior seeing 12, 26, 16 and 9 minutes of action over the past four games before Saturday’s 24-minute, 20-point outburst.

And just as soon as Rambus had erupted for 12 first-half points, she saw just nine minutes in the second half of action. By the time she checked back in with 2:37 minutes remaining in the third period, the game had been long decided in Oregon’s favor.

It would be foolish to classify this Oregon team as exceptionally top-heavy. Fans will remember two seasons ago when the trio of Phillipina Kyei, Grace VanSlooten and Chance Gray combined for 67.6% of the Ducks’ points.

And while Jacobs, Bell and Fiso are typically the team’s best three players on most nights, there’s plenty of room for breakouts such as Rambus’ in the first half to take place.

“We really needed that one big time, just to kind of stop the bleeding a little bit, regain some confidence,” Graves said. “Everybody played and most players scored, and I think it’s one of those games where everybody goes home feeling good about themselves, and that’s what we needed — we just needed that.”

Yes, Graves would like his rotations to be similar in most games, properly allotting rest time and spacing for each of his lineups. But sometimes you just have to rely on your three best players on any given possession, quarter, or game to be at their best and open up opportunities for the rest of the team.

After all, this is college basketball. Sometimes, star power rules.