The Oregon women’s basketball team almost let a 23-point lead slip away against Oregon State on Saturday night.
A McArthur Court crowd of 5,245 — the largest since Senior Night of 2003 against Washington — watched the Beavers (6-16 overall, 1-11 Pacific-10 Conference) go on a 17-3 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 its two-week, three-game homestand and solidified its position in the upper half of the Pac-10.
The Ducks improved their home record to 10-1 overall — the only loss to now-No. 3 Ohio State — and 7-0 in
conference play.
“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.”
A 10-2 run at the end of the first half gave the Ducks control of what was a tied game with 4:23 to go until halftime. That run, in combination with Oregon State’s six-and-a-half-minute scoreless stretch at the beginning of the second half helped erase any thoughts of an upset.
At least until the last six minutes of the game.
Leading 61-38 after two free throws by Kraayeveld, Oregon relaxed on both the offensive and defensive ends, allowing the Beavers to entertain the thought of a comeback after a three-pointer by senior Shannon Howell cut the lead to 13 with 1:47 left in the second half.
“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.
Mizusawa tallied her third double-digit assist game of the year, and during the last three games, she totaled
28 assists compared to seven turnovers. She is now sixth all-time at Oregon for assists in a single season with 148. The record is held by Jacquie Semeniuk (190).
“I have a knack for seeing everything,” said Mizusawa, who ranks second in the nation in assists. “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.”
Oregon senior Andrea Bills, hampered by foul trouble in the first half, contributed seven points, six rebounds and two assists in 27 minutes of play.
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.
“We wanted to keep them off the boards and continued to put pressure on defense,” Oregon State head coach Judy Spoelstra said. “That ruffled their feathers a little bit. We had 11 turnovers (in the first half), half of them unforced. We did much better in the second half with only six (turnovers).”
Howell led all scorers with 18 points on 6-of-15 shooting. Two other Oregon State players, sophomore Casey Bunn and guard Mandy Close, recorded double-digits in points.
Oregon will now spend the week preparing to play the Washington schools on the road, with the Cougars first up on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Pullman, Wash.
“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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