The Oregon women’s basketball team made the last Civil War in McArthur Court count.
Taylor Lilley scored 23 points and Micaela Cocks scored 18 points in their last Civil Wars, and the Ducks scored the first eight points of the game en route to an 82-62 victory over Oregon State.
Oregon (14-8, 5-5 Pacific-10 Conference) extended its record against the Beavers (9-12, 1-9) to 31-7 in games played at Mac Court. The Ducks’ 82 points in what will be the last rivalry game played in the 83-year-old facility tied the previous high for a Mac Court Civil War, set in an 82-63 victory in 1990.
“It’s one of those things that will be irreparable. It will be there in the books,” Ducks head coach Paul Westhead said in a moment of reflection. “I’m kind of happy I stumbled into it.”
OSU dug itself an early hole because of an inability to break the Ducks’ press. The Beavers committed two five-second violations in the backcourt in the first half and had trouble moving the ball beyond the half-court line, leading to many of their season-high 29 turnovers.
“Points off turnovers continue to be an issue for us,” Oregon State head coach LaVonda Wagner said. “Everything they got on us, they got off of turnovers.”
Case in point: With a 10-7 lead, Oregon guard Nia Jackson picked off a lazy inbound pass and dished it to Nicole Canepa, while falling, underneath the basket. Canepa made the layup to spark a brief 10-3 run.
The Beavers crept back to 23-20 with a Haiden Palmer jumpshot with 5:40 remaining, but Jasmin Holliday was fouled on a made layup on the other end and hit her free throw shot. On the defensive end, Taylor Lilley blocked a Julie Futch layup, corralled the ball and made a three-point shot to put the Ducks up 29-20.
“I wasn’t forcing anything in the beginning; I was just letting it come to me,” Lilley said, one game removed from 36 points and nine three-pointers against USC. “It has kind of been my mentality. I’m going to get my shots and I can’t rush anything or force anything.”
Oregon extended its lead to 47-30 at halftime and showed no signs of slowing down after the intermission, despite Oregon State’s attempts to slow down the game or pass over the top of the press. The Beavers never came within 15 points in the second half, a deficit made larger because of the pace.
Oregon State’s poor shooting (20-54 from the field, no made three-point field goals) ultimately doomed it despite a major advantage in rebounding. Oregon allowed 23 offensive rebounds and 49 overall to the Beavers while collecting 28 (nine offensive).
“We’re kind of covering our errant rebounding with our full-court pressure,” Westhead said. “I repeated to them, we just have to do a better job. It’s going to bite us. It already has at times.”
The Ducks shot 50 percent from the field (31-62) and the three-point line (6-12), blocking a season-high 10 shots. Though Oregon did commit 28 personal fouls, leading to 35 Beaver free throw attempts, its 15 turnovers gave it extra possessions.
Palmer led the way for Oregon State with her first career double-double, 25 points and 11 rebounds. Forward Kirsten Tilleman also added a double-double, with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Forward Talisa Rhea, who torched Oregon for 30 points in the first matchup this season, was held to 14 points on 2-12 shooting.
Jackson injured in game
With 3:38 remaining in the second half, Oregon guard Nia Jackson bumped heads with Rhea in the backcourt, knocking them both to the floor. Rhea got up quickly but Jackson stayed down, and trainers brought towels to stanch bleeding from Jackson’s mouth.
After the game, she was treated with stitches on her lip and underwent tests for a possible concussion, leaving her in doubt for Oregon’s Thursday matchup against Arizona. Westhead listed Jackson as “day-to-day.”
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