Oregon turned up the effort Sunday afternoon, but couldn’t pull out the win.

The Ducks rallied from a 14-point deficit in the second half to give themselves a chance to win, but fell short in the final minutes, losing to Washington State 79-76 on Sunday at Matthew Knight Arena.

Oregon is now 8-9 (1-5 Pac-12) while WSU improves to 11-6 (2-4 Pac-12). It’s the fourth-straight loss for the Ducks. 

Drea Toler posted a career-high 16 points, including 12 in the second-half while tying her career-high for assists with seven.

Jillian Alleyne finished with 23 points and 16 rebounds, her 15th double-double of the season. Katelyn Loper added 16 points on 4-of-9 from three-point range. Lexi Petersen chipped in nine points and six assists.

WSU led by 12 points, 61-47, with 10:33 to go. Oregon put together a 18-4 run to tie it up, 65-65 with 5:29 left to play on a Loper inside bucket.

Toler hit a layup and made the ensuing free throw after being fouled with 35 seconds remaining. That brought the Ducks to within one, 77-76. After WSU’s Lia Galdeira missed the first of her one-and-one, the Cougars forced a jump ball on the rebound to get the ball back. 

A pair of Galdeira free throws made it a three-point lead, 79-76 for Wazzu with 6.6 seconds remaining. Loper missed a potential game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer. 

“I feel a lot better about the effort tonight,” Graves said. “… One of the things we talked about in the locker room after is if you totally invest in a game, you should feel crushed after a game like this. These are always tough because I thought we had our chances late.”

WSU’s Galdiera finished with 22 points while Tia Presley tallied 29 on 10-of-22 shooting.

Toler’s 16 points are the sophomore’s most since her 12-point performance against USC last January. 

“It’s really not about me,” Toler said. “It’s about my team. We really needed this win tonight, but this is going to be a really good learning lesson for us. We’re going to get back and practice and work on the little things that caused us to lose this game.”

Alleyne said that Toler’s work ethic is admirable as she comes to practice every day and always hustles on defense. 

“She’s one of those players that speed does not go away,” Alleyne said. “She’s 100 miles per hour every day, every second.  That just translated over to the game. As you can see, Drea completely changed the facet of that game.”

Toler showed time in and time out that she wasn’t afraid to sacrifice her body to grab loose balls, diving and skating on the floor to force turnovers on defense and in-transition.

Going forward, Graves said the coaching staff will consider awarding Toler a spot in the starting five, something that hasn’t happened yet this season.

“I think if she can clean up a few defensive things, we’ve got a real diamond in the rough there,” Graves said. “A real gem.”

Oregon committed 21 turnovers to WSU’s nine. That resulted in a 26-14 advantage for Wazzu.

The Ducks got behind early in the first half, letting the Cougars build a lead, 13-5, at the 15:57 mark. During that stretch, the Ducks committed four turnovers.

Oregon put together a 12-4 run of its own, capped off by a Loper three-pointer to give the Ducks their first lead of the game, 22-19 with 8:02 left in the half. UO held its largest lead of the game, 27-21, with 5:13 left on a Loper three-pointer.

Taylor Edmondson’s free-throw with 50 seconds left before half gave the Cougars the lead once again. WSU went to the locker room on a 10-4 run of its own. 

Loper had 11 points at the half on 3-of-6 shooting. Overall, the Ducks shot 45.7 percent in the first half compared to WSU’s 37.5 percent. 

The Ducks have shown repeatedly that they have the comeback ability. Their 23-point comeback against Navy in December set the program record. 

“It’s much tougher against Pac-12 teams because every team is good,” Alleyne said. “It’s a lot harder. I don’t like when we’re in that position and neither does coach because now you have to work a lot harder and dig yourself out of a hole that you were just in.”

Going forward, Graves will emphasize the little things that can be improved, like missing layups or free-throws on the front end.

“We can’t continue to [dig ourselves holes], especially against good teams in this conference, you just can’t do that,” Graves said. “It does show that we have some heart, our kids don’t give up, they don’t quit.”

Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne