A popular axiom among football analysts states that “the best defense is a good offense.” Saturday’s Civil War pitted the Pacific-10 Conference’s — and the nation’s — most prolific scoring offense in Paul Westhead’s Oregon Ducks against the Pac-10’s best scoring defense in the Oregon State Beavers.
When the dust settled at Gill Coliseum, the Ducks walked away the victors, 86-71. Oregon is now 12-3 (3-0 Pac-10) and off to its best start since the 1998-99 season.
Faced with the prospect of being slowed down by the Beavers, Westhead’s best defense won the day.
“They’re beginning to play like they can win,” Westhead told The Register-Guard about his team. “You have to go out and earn each win, but there’s a different feel. They feel like they’re going to be successful.”
Oregon State (9-4, 1-2 Pac-10) kept the Ducks close early on, leading by as many as three points, but the tide turned in a hurry after Beaver guard Talisa Rhea knocked down a three-pointer with 5:08 remaining in the first half for a 31-30 lead. Micaela Cocks’ three-point basket nine seconds later catalyzed a 9-0 run over the next 2:45, and Oregon entered halftime with a 45-39 lead.
“To start the game we came out and there was a lack of intensity,” Oregon State head coach LaVonda Wagner told The Corvallis Gazette-Times. “We didn’t have a sense of urgency and they knocked down some shots.
“I thought, for the most part, for about 30 minutes, Oregon State women’s basketball played pretty well, and then for 10 minutes we got away from our game plan and that 10 minutes really hurt us. That was five minutes in the first half and then first five minutes in the second half.”
More like the first six minutes in the second half — Amanda Johnson’s jump shot with 13:53 remaining gave the Ducks a 62-47 lead, the largest of the game to that point.
“We realized that we really wanted this team if we wanted to continue to play hard,” Johnson said. “We came out hard (after halftime) and tried to crush their spirits early.”
Mission accomplished. The Beavers never got within seven points of the Ducks from then on, with Oregon hitting three consecutive three-pointers at one point to stifle OSU runs.
“Every time we hit a shot, they came right back down and ran the ball back down the court,” Rhea told The Register-Guard. “It seemed like they hit a three in transition and they were able to match it, or we hit a two and they came down and hit a three. We knew we couldn’t trade baskets with them. We knew we were going to have to get matched up out of transition and take away the three-point shot, and we had times where we did that and we had times where we didn’t.”
Rhea led all scorers with 30 points, including seven of eight threes. Guard Haiden Palmer chipped in 19 points and four assists for the Beavers.
Oregon saw three players contribute 20 or more points against Oregon State, with Taylor Lilley’s 23 — coupled with five assists and four steals — leading the way for the Ducks. Cocks had 22 points, while Johnson had 20 points, nine rebounds, three steals and three blocks.
The Ducks outshot the Beavers, 53.8 percent to 47.2 percent, on 12 more field goal attempts and also won the rebounding battle with 34 rebounds (16 offensive). Oregon also forced OSU into 20 turnovers, including six by Rhea and five by guard Julie Futch.
The Oregon women have an opportunity to go 4-0 in conference play next week for the first time since 2000-01. That team made it to the NCAA tournament before losing in the first round.
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