With Grace VanSlooten announced as out and Sofia Bell announced as a limited participant in pre-game practices, Friday’s matchup with No.16 Utah didn’t bode well on paper for Oregon women’s basketball.
It didn’t bode well on the hardwood either. Unable to capitalize on a superb start and late run, the Ducks (11-10, 2-6 Pac-12) fell to the Utes (15-5, 5-3 Pac-12) 58-48 Friday night at Matthew Knight Arena.
It was another missed opportunity in a disappointing season full of them, especially when Oregon — often the victim of slow starts — played a strong opening half highlighted by the star performance of center Phillipina Kyei
Capitalizing on the Utes’ early offensive woes, Oregon jumped out to a seven-point lead at the end of the first quarter.
Despite VanSlooten’s absence, the Ducks continued to look in sync. Kyei’s 14 points led Oregon to an eight-point lead at the half.
“I’m just really proud of her, her growth on and off the court,” Oregon head coach Kelly Graves said of Kyei. “When you gameplan for us, she’s No.1. That’s who they look at, how they are going to stop her.”
“I think we executed well on both sides,” Kyei said. “Our defense was good and we got it going on offense.”
As the half changed, so did the tides. Oregon sputtered out defensively allowing 21 third-quarter points while the Utes chipped away at the Ducks’ lead.
With 6:31 remaining in the third quarter, Oregon’s true freshman and top defender Sofia Bell went down with a lower-body injury and would not return.
“My guess is they are both out for Sunday.” Graves said of VanSlooten and Bell.”
In Bell’s absence, The Utes quickly went on a 9-2 run to lead by seven at the end of the third quarter.
Utah would not relent as leading-scorer Alissa Pili quickly caught fire adding 12 of the Utes’ 15 fourth-quarter points.
Chance Gray (18 points) led Oregon on a late surge to cut the lead to just three, but the Ducks’ offense went cold at the worst possible time as it was held scoreless in the final 3:38 of the game.
With Gray and Kyei garnering much of the Utes’ attention, Oregon was able to get good looks, but the shots would not fall.
“There were times where they had four kids on her [Kyei],” Graves said. “There were times when we had open looks on kick-outs from that spot, but we just didn’t make it.”
Second-half points and Pili’s surge did the Ducks no favors, but Oregon’s cold offense late led to its demise.
“Without Sofia, without Grace, we just don’t have a lot of options to score ourselves, ” Graves said. “I’m actually really proud of the effort.”
Friday’s victory serves as Utah’s 1,000th in program history.
The Ducks will remain home to take on the No. 3 ranked Colorado Buffaloes this Sunday at noon.
“We just held one of the best offensive teams in the country to 58 points,” Gray said. “We’ve just got to keep that momentum, Colorado is going to be even tougher.”
