She did it again, folks.
Joanna Smith is the dagger in the Ducks’ heart, the thorn in their side, the monkey on their back and any other cliché you can think of.
The Cougar senior guard — who hit the game-winning three-pointer Jan. 20 to beat Oregon — won the game again for her team Thursday night at McArthur Court, this time with less than one second remaining.
Running off the court after the last-second hurrah, Washington State senior Victoria Harrod expressed the flavor of the moment: “Duck soup baby, Duck soup.”
After Oregon senior Brianne Meharry split a pair of free throws to put the Ducks up one with 10 seconds remaining, Cougar point guard Katie Nyseth drove the length of the court and dished off to Kelley Berglund, who threw up a desperation three. The ball flew off the front of the rim into the arms of Smith, who spun, released … swish.
“I had no idea how much time was left; I just threw it up, and it went in,” Smith said of her last-second heroics, which propelled her team to a 77-76 victory, its first season sweep of Oregon since 1991. “I don’t know; I just wasn’t thinking.”
“Joanna is just awesome,” said senior Yvonne Volkman, who paced the Cougs with 22 points and eight boards. “She is the heart-breaker for Oregon.”
Smith’s final shot capped off a fireworks display of long balls by the Cougs in the final three minutes of the game. With the Ducks leading 69-60, Nyseth hit a trey, then hit another bomb following an Oregon bucket to bring the Cougs within five. A pair of Nyseth free throws preceded a Smith three-ball to cut the lead to one with 1:46. Harrod also added a three in the final 70 seconds to keep the momentum tilted in the Cougars’ favor.
Washington State was 10-for-12 from behind the arc in the second half, compared to a 2-for-11 performance in the opening period.
“I thought we did a good job on them most of the game as far as their three-point shooting, but our fatigue set in, and we let some people get some open looks at the basket. Or we’d have a hand in their face, and they’d still put it in,” Oregon head coach Jody Runge said.
Similar to the game in Pullman, when she did not play in the first half at all, Smith came off the bench for the Cougars to shoot 4-of-5 from three-point land, all in the second half. She finished the game with 14 points.
Washington State head coach Jenny Przekwas “knows she can count on me to stay focused on the bench,” Smith said. “I’ve always been a surprise three-point shooter off the bench.”
Some of the Oregon players were apparently very surprised by Smith’s spark.
“Cathrine [Oregon freshman Cathrine Kraayeveld] is young, and she didn’t remember who Smith was, so we had to call a timeout to remind her,” Runge said. “Those kind of things break down your continuity.”
“I heard their coach yelling ‘Don’t you remember her from last game?’” Smith said.
The Ducks have now lost five straight, the first such streak in eight years under Runge. Oregon (12-10 overall, 5-7 Pacific-10 Conference) and Washington State (10-12, 5-7) are tied for sixth place in the conference standings.
“They’re a good team, and we’ve never beaten them before this year,” Smith said. “This is a great feeling.”