Maybe it was the odd contrast of their opponents’ bright pink jerseys in an arena dominated by green and yellow. Maybe it was their unwillingness to penetrate the gaps of a seemingly loose 2-3 defense. Or maybe their minds were focused elsewhere — on an upcoming matchup with the No. 2 Stanford Cardinal on Sunday, Feb. 20.
Pick your excuse.
Either way, the Oregon women’s basketball team could not find a way to take the lid off the basket. They shot a porous 35% from the field and failed to knock down a three-point shot all night.
“I’ve never had a team go 0-of-16 from three, and that includes Big Ben Community College the year we went 4-23,” head coach Kelly Graves said.
Yet somehow, the Ducks eked out a 52-47 victory over the Cal Bears.
It took a combined 11 missed shots before Sedona Prince, who came into the game as a substitute, broke the scoreless tie. Prince led the Ducks with 15 points and 8 rebounds.
“We’re so big and strong, but we found the confidence to finish in the post on smaller players,” Prince said. “The high-low game hadn’t been working for a while, but we got back to it and they can’t match mine and Nyara [Sabally’s] skill or size.”
Amongst a game that held no energy, Prince’s intensity stood out. She provided three clutch blocks — one to close out the first quarter, and two to seal the victory in the final minutes.
In the Ducks’ previous matchup with the Bears on Jan. 9, the result of the game was decided before halftime. On Friday, Feb. 18, it took until the 7:43 mark of the fourth quarter to score half of the 88 points they finished with last time.
Fortunately for the Ducks, the Bears lacked the initiative to capitalize on an egregious performance. The Ducks played like a team desperately begging to let a much less talented team steal an undeserved victory. The upset was there for the taking but the Bears wanted no part.
The game went from a slow start to a 40-minute clash of lifeless offenses. Moans and groans from the fans turned into audible boos and questioning stares as they began to blame the absence of any offensive firepower on the referees.
The Ducks took a 49-45 lead into the final minute before whistles interrupted three crucial possessions. Te-Hina Paopao’s toes scratched the courts’ boundaries, but the fans’ view of the play was blocked by the basket’s stanchion. Booing ensued.
On the following possession, Endyia Rogers provided a much-needed bucket, before the referees erased it once again with an illegal screen call on Prince. Booing ensued.
Paopao corralled a loose ball to finish a game-saving defensive possession. Suddenly her feet were swept out from under her by a Bears defender and she thudded to the ground — whistles blew controversially. Traveling was called. Booing ensued.
The Bears missed six open threes in the final 30 seconds and Prince knocked down two free throws to close out the Ducks’ ugliest victory of the year.
“If this team were a stock, I would have sold it a long time ago,” Graves said. “The volatility is so up-and-down. We got to trend up, man, we got three difficult games left before the Pac-12 tournament and we just got to find a way to get better.”
With the win, the Ducks improve to 18-8 on the season and 10-4 in the conference. They host the conference leaders and No. 2 ranked team in Stanford on Sunday, Feb. 20 at 1 p.m.
