The team wearing purple did not get the best of the Oregon women’s
basketball team this time around.
In their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2001, the
10th-seeded Ducks squeezed by seventh-seeded Texas Christian, 58-55
in front of 3,094 fans at Bank of America Arena on Saturday.
In the past, Oregon (21-9 overall) has run into some roadblocks in
Seattle against Pacific-10 Conference opponent Washington. Most
recently, the Huskies surprised the Ducks with a 24-point victory,
81-57.
But that was without senior forward Cathrine Kraayeveld, who made 7-
of-12 shots from the field against TCU to help Oregon win its first
tournament game since 1999 to advance to the second round. The
Kirkland, Wash., native tallied a game-high 23 points.
Oregon freshman Gabrielle Richards and senior Andrea Bills locked out
the potent Sandora Irvin, TCU’s most threatening player on offense
and defense.
The 6-foot-3 Irvin, a senior forward, was limited to only two points
in the first 20 minutes of the game, however, she did record three
blocks.
In the second half, Irvin scored 12 points and added three more
blocked shots but eventually fouled out with 1:29 left in the game.
The Conference USA Player of the Year still managed to finish with a
team-high 14 points (5-of-19) and a game-high six blocks – TCU’s only
blocked shots in the game.
The Lady Frogs (23-10) saw their largest lead at 46-38 with 9:49 left
in the second half.
Oregon spent the next seven minutes constructing a crucial 17-4
scoring run that resulted in a 55-50 lead with less than three
minutes remaining. Junior guard Brandi Davis, who came up empty on
five first-half shot attempts – capped of the spree with one of her
two three-pointers in the game.
Then it came down to the free throws, which have been Oregon’s
Achilles’ heel all season.
Richards missed a pair of freebies for Oregon, which shot 71.4
percent from the free-throw line in each half. TCU’s Natasha Lacy
built some suspense with a three-pointer to cut Oregon’s lead to 55-
53 with 32 seconds left.
Kraayeveld made two free throws, but Vanessa Clementino immediately
responded for the Lady Frogs with a lay-up. Davis was unable to give
Oregon a two-possession advantage as she made only 1-of-2 free
throws.
TCU’s Ashley Davis got off a three-pointer at the buzzer that caught
the front iron and bounced off the backboard but did not fall.
The Ducks fended off a rather poor 16-of-58 (.276) shooting
performance by the Lady Frogs and worked around seven ties and 10
lead changes to claim the victory. Oregon shot around 39 percent for
the game and won the rebounding battle, 37-35.
Senior point guard Corrie Mizusawa dished out a game-high eight
assists while Bills collected a game-high eight boards to go with 10
points for the Ducks.
Lacy and Clementino each scored 10 points for TCU.
Pac-10 teams are 4-0 in the tournament so far.
Oregon faces No. 2 seed Baylor on the same floor on Monday at 6:07
p.m.

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