SAN JOSE, CALIF. – Senior forward Cathrine Kraayeveld made Oregon’s
final field goal of the women’s basketball Pacific-10 Conference
Tournament with 5:07 left in the second half.
With 20 seconds left and the Ducks down by four points, Kraayeveld
then made the mistake of passing the ball to Arizona State’s Aubree
Johnson instead of her own teammate.
That costly turnover allowed the Sun Devils to finish with a 54-47
victory on Sunday at HP Pavilion in front of 3,521 fans. With that
semifinal win, Arizona State advanced to the championship game of the
tournament to face Stanford today.
“I cannot be more proud of our team’s toughness,” Arizona State
head
coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “I don’t think there are too many
teams in the country that can shoot 32 percent in the semifinals and
win.
“We scored when we needed to score … and as usual we’re getting it
from different people on different days.”
Oregon (20-9 overall), for the second time in the four years of the
Pac-10 Tournament, was denied passage to the championship game by the
Sun Devils.
The Ducks reached the end of their road after committing five
turnovers and converting 0 of 5 field goal attempts in the final five
minutes of the game.
“It was a disappointing loss,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith said,
“particularly the way we battled, both in the first half and deep in
the second half.”
Arizona State (22-8) used two consecutive lay-ups by Emily Westerberg
to tie the game at 47 with 1:29 remaining. The second bucket sparked
an 11-0 run that closed out the game.
“When we let our defense work instead of our offense, we’re
great,”
said Westerberg, who finished with 12 points and a game-high eight
boards. “We got a few stops and became clutch with some buckets, and
I think that’s what turned the momentum around.”
After one of Oregon’s several turnovers in the closing minutes,
Johnson hopped over the leg of Oregon’s Andrea Bills near the left
baseline and put up a floater with forty-five seconds left to give
Arizona State a 49-47 lead, it’s first since the 6:50 mark of the
first half.
“We handled it well until there were five minutes left,” Oregon
center Andrea Bills said. “Then we started making mental mistakes –
a
few turnovers that really hurt us.”
Bills sent Johnson to the free-throw line and after Johnson recorded
her two charity points, she intercepted Kraayeveld’s inbound pass.
“I had been in front of the point guard all night, so I was just
trying to do the same thing again,” said Johnson, who finished with
two steals. “I saw the pass so I just took it.”
That led to an uncharacteristic collapse in the final minutes for
Oregon, which committed 19 tournovers total.
Johnson, a sophomore, started and ended the game well as she scored
the first points of the game for either team. The 6-foot-2 guard
finished with a team-high 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting and four
rebounds in 32 minutes.
The Ducks were held to second-lowest total for points scored this
season and shot 37 percent (18 of 49) for the game. Coach Smith’s
squad made only one three-pointer in eight attempts, the fewest made
by her team this season.
“It’s a tough loss because our team really competed hard today,”
Smith said.
Kraayeveld went 6 of 15 from the floor for Oregon for 14 points in 34
minutes. Bills made her first five field goals and finished with 11
points on 5-of-6 shooting.
The Ducks were outrebounded 39-32 and 14-7 on the offensive glass. No
Oregon player had more than five rebounds and it’s bench only
contributed two points.
Senior point guard Corrie Mizusawa score eight points and pulled down
a season-high five rebounds.
Kraayeveld and Mizusawa shared the team-high in assists with three.

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