The young Oregon women’s basketball team is quickly learning just how tough Pac-12 play will be.
Looking to bounce back from Friday’s loss to No. 9 Washington, the Ducks hit a road block on Sunday in Washington State and were unable to pull out the win, falling 75-59 to start conference play winless.
Lexi Bando led the Ducks (10-4, 0-2 Pac-12) with 19 points while Ruthy Hebard contributed 14 points and eight rebounds. The Cougars (6-8, 1-2) had a 41-34 halftime lead and didn’t allow the home team to regain the lead after intermission.
“I’m disappointed,” head coach Kelly Graves told reporters after the game. “Disappointed for our team. I think we’re much better. I look at where we were a month ago. I know we’re down a player or two, but shouldn’t matter.”
Maite Cazorla returned to the starting lineup after missing Friday’s game against Washington. Mallory McGwire started her first career game in place of Jacinta Vandenberg.
The Ducks continue to play without Sabrina Ionescu, who has a broken thumb.
“I think we’ve taken a little bit of a hit from her being gone,” Bando said of Ionescu. “It shouldn’t be like that but Sabrina is an awesome player and we miss her.”
Oregon allowed the visitors to shoot 49 percent from the field in the first half while the Ducks committed 11 turnovers, leading to nine WSU points. In total, Oregon turned the ball over 21 times compared to WSU’s 14.
“I think the turnovers are unacceptable. We have to clean that up,” Bando said. “Pac-12 teams are going to show your weaknesses.”
The Ducks closed to within 46-41 early in the third quarter, but WSU countered with a 8-0 run to take a 54-41 lead with 4:35 left in the third quarter. Oregon pulled to within 13 points with 7:43 remaining in the game, but couldn’t close the gap any further in the loss.
The Ducks, which outrebounded WSU 37-35, finished the game shooting 36.5 percent while WSU shot 44.8 percent.
“I’m looking for answers,” Graves said. “Honestly, if you’ve seen us play in some games, we’ve defended great — flying around with energy making things happen. It’s changed. We haven’t stepped up to the level of the Pac-12 yet.”
Bando said she was proud of Hebard’s performance on Sunday. The freshman went 8-of-12 from the free throw line.
“Ruthy over here is doing an incredible job,” Bando said. “She’s putting up big numbers. A lot of the freshmen have played in the big light. They’re doing great. They’re going to keep getting better and better.”
Chanelle Molina led WSU in scoring with 20 points. The Cougars had three others score in double digits: Alexys Swedlund (16), Caila Hailey (12) and Ivana Kmetovska (10).
The Ducks next play four consecutive road games. They travel to No. 13 Stanford next Friday and No. 21 Cal next Sunday.
