The Oregon women’s basketball team almost let a 23-point lead
slip away against Oregon State on Saturday night.
A Mac Court crowd of 5,245 — largest since senior night of 2003
against Washington — watched the Beavers (6-16 overall, 1-11
Pacific-10 Conference) go on a 18-3 run over the last six minutes of
the game to make the 64-55 final of the 74th Civil War seem a lot
closer than it was.
In the end, however, Oregon (15-6, 8-4) completed the sweep of
their two-week, three-game homestand and cemented their position in
the upper-half of the conference.
“It feels good to get a win,” Oregon senior Cathrine Kraayeveld
said. “We’re not too happy about the whole game in general, though.
We didn’t play as good as we did last weekend.”
Oregon used a six and a half minute scoreless stretch at the
beginning of the second half by Oregon State to take control of the
game. The 9-2 run in combination with an 8-0 run at the end of the
first half gave the Ducks control of what was a tie game with 4:23
to go.
“In the first few minutes (of tonight’s game) we got aggressive
and down and dirty,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith said. “Once we had
a lead, we relaxed. We have to mentally focus and notice that when
the lead is 20 we have to get to 22, and when it’s 22 we have to get
24.”
Kraayeveld, playing in her 100th game as a Duck, led all Oregon
scorers with 17 on 6 of 12 shooting. She also added five rebounds
and hit a pair of critical three-pointers — including one that gave
the Ducks a 33-25 lead with 1:31 left in the first half.
Oregon senior point guard Corrie Mizusawa had an equally
impressive performance, handing out 10 assists — nine in the first
half — and committing only one turnover. She also added seven points
in 32 minutes of play.
“I have a knack for seeing everything,” Mizusawa said. ”
Especially all of our good shooters. I know my personnel. I know
where they’ll be and what kind of shots they like to take.”
For the 12th game this year, the Duck defense held an opponent
under 60 points. Oregon forced 17 turnovers, 10 of them on steals,
and held Oregon State to 39 percent shooting for the game.
Oregon State senior guard Shannon Howell led all scorers with 18
points on 6 of 15 shooting.
“Our home court advantage sets us up,” Smith said. “Now we have
to take that Mac Court magic on the road with us.”

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