Katie Fiso’s meandering push toward the basket in the final ten seconds wouldn’t have looked unsuccessful until time ran out in the sophomore’s career-high 27-point performance filled with unlikely makes. Her mishandle and offensive foul at run’s end, though, allowed Washington to seal a win at the free-throw line.

“We had the ball in the hands of the right player, and just kind of a fluke ending. You know, she loses her footing and then hits them,” Oregon head coach Kelly Graves said.

Oregon (20-11, 8-10 Big Ten) entered its senior night rivalry matchup seeking revenge after dropping a Feb. 25 road game to then-No. 25 Washington (20-9, 10-8 Big Ten). Fiso and Ehis Etute (21 points, 13 rebounds) kept that goal within reach for the Ducks, but Washington guard Sayvia Sellers (29 points) fueled a consistent Huskies lead and allowed them to put the game away in the final seconds. Oregon ended the regular season with its stars in peak form, but Graves has adjustments to make to parlay their performances into postseason wins.

Senior guard Astera Tuhina made an immediate impact in her first start of the season, poking the ball off a driving Husky’s foot for a steal on Washington’s first possession, and draining a deep 3-pointer to spark a scoreless Ducks offense nearly three minutes in.

After Washington guard Elle Ladine found a gap in Oregon’s perimeter defense and drove into an open layup to put the Huskies ahead 9-3, the Ducks’ offense finally broke through. Ari Long exploited a similar lapse on the perimeter to avoid a Huskies run, and Fiso evened the score at nine with a driving layup and a midcourt steal that led to a fastbreak.

The Ducks came up with another crucial response early in the second quarter as Washington’s lead approached double-digits. Mia Jacobs drew a shooting foul moving downhill, and Avary Cain made Oregon’s long-awaited second 3-pointer, closing the gap to 20-16.

The Huskies pushed their lead to 31-21 with 2:07 remaining in the half by unlocking Sellers for two 3-pointers and a layup, but the Ducks made an offensive breakthrough of their own, creating two layups for Etute and one for Fiso on consecutive possessions.

“It’s one of those pick (your) poison kind of things — you know (Sellers) is going to get hers in the end anyway if you try to take away the others,” Graves said. 

Fiso pulled Oregon back into the game early in the second half, picking apart the Huskies’ defense for three straight layups. The Ducks parlayed Fiso’s dominance into an 11-2 run, cutting Washington’s lead to 42-40 midway through the third quarter.

“When I want to go downhill, I’m more than capable of doing that, so just having that mindset to attack, attack, attack from the jump, to the end of the fourth quarter (worked for me),” Fiso said.

The layups unlocked every facet of Fiso’s scoring ability, and she kept Sellers’ consistent scoring at bay with a stepback midrange make and a corner 3-pointer to keep Oregon within one score in the third quarter. 

Brynn McGaughy and Ladine provided the Huskies five points in the final minute of the period to give Washington a 53-47 lead going into the fourth.

Etute capitalized on her own strong end to the third quarter to fuel the Ducks’ offense early in the fourth, making 4/6 early free-throw attempts and converting two layups when the Huskies didn’t match her physicality. 

“They went small a lot tonight, so we were able to exploit that a little bit,” Graves said. “They did a good job on her (in Seattle) with their length, but for whatever reason, they went a little bit smaller at times tonight, and she was able to get around the rim.” 

Although Oregon had yet to lead the game, it took significant momentum into the final five minutes thanks to Jacobs’ fastbreak layup off a steal to prompt a Washington timeout with its lead cut to 60-59.

The Huskies pushed back out of the timeout with a Sellers layup and two free throws from Ladine on Etute’s fourth foul. Sofia Bell set Etute up to spin off her defender and make a layup, and Fiso blew through Washington’s defense once again to keep the Ducks within two points.

The Ducks dragged a tied 67-67 game into the final minute, with Cain making two of three free throws and Fiso adding two more to fight off a spinning layup by Sellers.

Oregon’s dominant scorers combined to provide its first lead of the day when Fiso threaded a bounce pass between two point defenders and found Etute under the basket for a wide-open layup. After a Huskies timeout, Sellers ran the inbound pass the length of the floor for a potential go-ahead and-1, but missed the free throw, leaving the score tied and Oregon with possession with 12 seconds remaining.

On the Ducks’ final possession, Fiso mishandled the ball high in the paint and collided with Huskies guard Devin Coppinger, who made her second free throw via a bonus situation to win the game.

Oregon starts the postseason on March 4 at the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis.