The Ducks avenged their Jan. 25 loss to Arizona in dramatic fashion Friday night.
After posting a 13-2 run out of intermission and surviving a late Wildcat run, Oregon picked up a 75-61 win to improve to to 12-12 (5-8 Pac-12).
The Ducks now have won four of their last five games dating back to the loss in Tucson.
Jillian Alleyne was 7-of-8 from the field, posting 19 points and 17 rebounds. Lexi Petersen finished with 16 points and five assists while Lexi Bando added 14 points.
Jordan Loera finished with 11 points and four assists.
“I think the difference (tonight) was we’ve taken more pride in our game.” Alleyne said. “We know that we can compete at a high level. That’s definitely what rolled into this game with us.”
The Ducks shot 49.1 percent from the field, including 52 percent in the second half to sink the Wildcats. Oregon held Arizona (9-15, 2-11 Pac-12) to a 38 percent field goal percentage.
Oregon led by as many as 21 points in the second half, but saw the lead fade away late.
“Good win, really good win,” head coach Kelly Graves said. “The slow start was tough, but I thought our kids really hung in there.”
Arizona led early (23-20), before the Ducks went on a 14-4 run, including the final 11 points of the half to pull in a 34-27 lead.
Coming out of intermission, the Ducks made their first five three-point attempts to give Oregon its biggest lead of the game, 56-35 with 13:47 to go.
Arizona would close the Oregon lead to 60-51, with 7:11 remaining, but a Bando three-pointer got the Ducks back on track.
After the overtime loss to Arizona, Oregon rallied off three straight wins before losing to Washington last weekend.
“Our team is playing really well right now,” Graves said. “We’re confident and we’re seeing some results. It’s been fun.”
Both Alleyne and Megan Carpenter finished with four fouls. Carpenter played nine total minutes after picking up two early fouls in the first 3:03 of the game.
“(Arizona) is really athletic,” Grave said. “They have posts that can step out and make that 12 to 15 foot shot and then those same posts can take you off the dribble. Where we do better is when (Carpenter) doesn’t have to be as mobile.”
Loera’s 11 points tonight came after she tallied 12 points against Washington last weekend.
She said that it’s special to help her teammates out this season after missing the 2013-14 campaign with a knee injury.
“It feels great to help my team out more than I have in the past and contribute in different ways,” Loera said. “My teammates are doing a great job.”
“Jordan had a great game,” Graves said. “She’s such a steady ball-player. She can do a little of everything… She’s a steady influence on the court and had a really nice game all the way around tonight.”
Alleyne moved into fifth all-time in Oregon career scoring history with 1,506 points, leapfrogging Arianne Boyer (1,501) and Amanda Johnson (1,505).
Notes:
Alleyne and Katelyn Loper were honored before the game for reaching 1,000 career points. Alleyne received an extra recognition for 1,000 career rebounds … The Ducks out-rebounded Arizona 41-34, their fifth consecutive game beating out their opponents on the boards.
On Sunday Feb. 15, the Ducks will welcome No. 12 Arizona State to town for a 4:30 p.m. tipoff on Pac-12 Networks.
Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne