The Oregon women’s basketball team (19-9, 7-8 Big Ten) trailed by 12 in the third quarter against the Nebraska Cornhuskers (16-11, 5-11 Big Ten) before storming back in the final minutes to secure an 80-76 win.

The Ducks were led by Ehis Etute with 21 points, Katie Fiso with 19 and Janiyah Williams who had a career night shooting 5/5 with 12 points.

“Every day at practice, I’m putting in that work,” Williams said. “Sometimes you just gotta let that drone fly.”

Fiso was not surprised by what her teammate showed tonight.

“It’s only a matter of time when it was gonna be showcased on the big screen,” Fiso said. “I see it in practice every day. I see the work (Williams) puts in.”

Both offenses got going immediately, each scoring less than 30 seconds into the game. Nebraska’s first three field goals came less than 15 seconds into the possession. 

While Oregon took its time, it gained the early lead with 3-pointers from Fiso, Mia Jacobs and Sofia Bell. Etute had a couple of early steals, which helped slow down the Cornhuskers’ offense.

The Cornhuskers took the lead by scoring the first three buckets of the second quarter. During that three minute stretch, Oregon had three misses and two turnovers before finally getting it to fall on a driving layup from Astera Tuhina.

Nebraska sat with a 6-point lead for a good part of the quarter, but it gradually got larger as Oregon just could not get a stop on defense.

The Ducks shot 13/28 in the first half while committing 10 turnovers. Etute was the leading scorer for Oregon with eight first half points, followed by Fiso with seven.

The teams exchanged empty possessions to start the second half before Oregon finally got the first basket just over a minute in on a 3-pointer from Bell. Nebraska answered immediately with a three of its own, on its way to scoring eight straight points to force an Oregon timeout.

The Cornhuskers extended their lead to 12, but a pair of buckets from Tuhina and Etute followed by an offensive foul against Nebraska brought the Ducks a little closer and triggered a Nebraska timeout.

The Ducks had an 8-0 run that cut the deficit back to four before Nebraska finally got on the board again by way of a 3-pointer. An Oregon pass that went out of bounds with 10 seconds left in the quarter set Nebraska up for buzzer-beater to push its lead back up to nine going into the fourth.

The Cornhuskers got on the board again with a driving layup in the first 15 seconds of the fourth quarter. They seemed to be running away with it again as they pushed the lead back to double digits.

The Ducks chipped into the lead slightly before going on a 7-0 run in less than a minute with free throws from Fiso followed by back-to-back field goals from Williams to cut the Nebraska lead to three and bring Matthew Knight Arena to life.

“Two days a week, we spend time on situations,” Graves said. “We put a certain time on the board, ‘This team’s up by one, or two, or four with 48 seconds to go.’ We replay all the time, end of game scenarios. We’re getting better at that, but that’s the Big Ten. Every night, we just gotta bring it.”

After a missed 3-point attempt by Nebraska, Sarah Rambus secured the rebound before drawing a reach-in foul to send her to the line and bring the Ducks within one. From there, the building only got louder on another empty possession for the Cornhuskers before a driving bucket by Fiso gave Oregon its first lead of the half.

“I was just trying to slow down, read the floor,” Fiso said. “When I saw the lane, I pursued it. I was aggressive and got to the cup.”

Nebraska stayed right with them, but the Ducks hit six free throws in the final two minutes to secure a thrilling 4-point victory in front of a rocking Eugene crowd.

The Ducks travel to Indiana to face the Hoosiers Feb. 22 at 10:00 a.m.