In their Pac-12 season opener, the Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team lost a spirited battle against No. 2 ranked Stanford 80-68 in Maples Pavilion that was nearly empty due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The Ducks came into the matchup having not played a Division I opponent since mid-December, and the recent lack of formidable competition certainly played a factor Friday.
Oregon also played without one of its key post-presences in Sedona Prince, who was sidelined after testing positive for COVID-19 just hours before the game. Freshman center Phillipina Kyei was a late scratch as well.

The Cardinal on the other hand came ready and fully healthy fresh off their first conference win against Washington State on Sunday.
The game started out as a track meet and Oregon’s lack of depth at center was evident early as Nyara Sabally, who was on a minutes restriction, struggled to hold down the paint by herself. Sabally was able to overcome the setbacks to net 19 points and eight rebounds.

“Nyara is one of the best players in the conference,” Oregon head coach Kelly Graves said. “But when they threw the help at her she struggled a little bit.”

The Ducks were able to stay competitive offensively throughout the contest, but their transition defense held them back from completing the comeback as Stanford continued to capitalize off of Oregon’s 14 turnovers.

Oregon trailed 42-31 at the half.

Stanford’s star senior guard Lexie Hull seemingly couldn’t miss, as she poured in 33 points. She recorded a career-high in points and 3-pointers made with seven.

A bright spot for the Ducks Friday night was junior guard Endyia Rogers, as she controlled the offense and put up a season-high 22 points.
The Cardinal went on some vital scoring runs that the Ducks were unable to answer without some of their best players down low, ultimately making the biggest difference in the end result.

Coach Graves addressed some of those injuries and lineup issues postgame.

“We haven’t played without our three best players, who combined for 55 tonight,” Coach Graves said. “But we showed glimpses tonight of being capable of beating a pretty good team.”

Stanford had chances to put the game away late, but costly turnovers allowed Oregon to sneak back into it down the stretch.

In the end, the Ducks hot streak came too late as Stanford denied the comeback with back-to-back 3s from the player they couldn’t afford to leave open: Hull.

The Ducks look to bounce back this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. PST against Cal at Haas Pavilion.