Down six points against No. 2 seed Stanford with 27 seconds left in the final of the Pac-12 Tournament, junior Sabrina Ionescu missed back-to-back 3-pointers. A subsequent foul by the junior sent Stanford’s Alanna Smith to the free-throw line where she added two more to the Cardinal lead.
Two more free throws from Stanford, and a Ionescu made 3-pointer, handed Oregon women’s basketball (29-4, 16-2) its third loss of the season to a conference opponent. Oregon’s 64-57 loss to the Stanford Cardinal (28-4, 15-3) meant the Ducks would not earn a back-to-back Pac-12 regular and postseason title sweep.
“We came out and didn’t have any fire,” Ionescu said in the postgame press conference. “We were kind of on our heels. We fought back, but didn’t fight back hard enough.”
The Ducks trailed all of the first half, earning their first lead with less than a minute in the third quarter behind an 8-0 run. In the fourth, the Cardinal and Ducks swapped leads five times before Stanford ran away with the victory. 
“This is an Elite Eight, Final Four kind of game,” head coach Kelly Graves told the media. “That sense of urgency wasn’t there. You do that in the NCAA Tournament, you’re done.”
Ionescu scored a game-high 27 points for Oregon with 12 rebounds and five assists. Junior Ruthy Hebard followed with 13 points of her own with five rebounds and three assists.
Despite their third-quarter comeback attempt, the Ducks trailed all but 3 minutes and 15 seconds of the game. Meanwhile, Stanford’s defense held the Ducks to their lowest-scoring half at 24 points.  
Stanford took an initial lead off an 8-0 run to open scoring. The Ducks were only able to get within three points the rest of the quarter, finishing it down seven. From the end of the first into the second, the Cardinal went on another 8-1 run, maintaining at least a six-point lead. In the half, the Ducks shot just 11 percent from the 3-point line off 1-of-9 shooting, with Ionescu making the lone Oregon 3-pointer.
In the third, the Ducks went on an 18-3 run to snag their first lead with less than a minute left, heading into the fourth up 42-41. In that quarter, Oregon held Stanford to just eight points, and behind 60 percent shooting from the 3-point line, outscored the Cardinal 18-8.
However, early in the fourth, Stanford retook the lead. The Ducks and Cardinal traded leads the rest of the quarter before Stanford went on a 7-0 run. The Ducks sent the Cardinal to the free-throw line three times, where Stanford went 6-of-6 to secure the 64-57 Pac-12 title-earning victory.
“They were better than us,” Graves said. “They were more focused, more determined, played harder than us. I was a little disappointed with our effort once we took the lead in the third quarter.”
The Ducks look to the NCAA Tournament, which starts in two weeks. On Monday, March 18 at 4 p.m. PT, the NCAA will announce seeding and regional placements.
Follow Sierra Webster on Twitter @WebsterSierraE