Chelsea Richards said the shot looked and felt good off her fingertips, but it hit the back of the rim and bounced out in front of 3,539 in the championship game of the Women’s Sports Foundation Classic.
Wagner’s miss in the final seconds typified a defense-dominated game that No. 21 Temple won 51-46 against Oregon on Saturday night at McArthur Court.
Trading baskets and leads, Oregon (1-1) took a 44-43 lead with 3:21 left when Gabrielle Richards took a pass amidst three Temple defenders, made the basket and was fouled. She added Oregon’s last basket for a 46-43 lead before Temple’s defense clamped down.
Temple (2-0) had three consecutive offensive rebounds and scored eight consecutive points to give them a three-point lead and set up Wagner’s shot. Oregon point guard Kaela Chapdelaine ran a pick-and-roll twice as the second try gave Wagner room.
Although she missed the shot, Wagner said after the game that she had been confident it would go in despite Temple’s frenetic defense.
“They are never going to let you have a wide-open three,” Wagner said.
Temple’s Candice Dupree said her team’s defense was focused on shutting down Oregon’s offense.
“Every player on that team can shoot. We knew we had to get that stop,” Dupree said.
One night after scoring 80 points in a season-opening win against St. Francis, Oregon turned to its post players early on.
Oregon’s Richards made her presence felt, settling deep within Temple’s defense and scoring eight first-half points against a tall Temple front line. Dupree, a 6-foot-2 preseason All-America candidate, showed why she deserves attention with 11 points and seven rebounds in the first half.
Every time Temple needed a big basket Dupree scored, sinking the go-ahead basket en route to Tournament MVP Honors. The Wooden Award candidate finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds. Richards, on the All-Tournament Team, posted career highs in points (20) and rebounds (12). Her 20 points broke the 19-point record she had set the night before against St. Francis.
Temple’s defense adjusted in the second half and forced Oregon outside. Part Temple defense, part Oregon’s shot selection, the Ducks played on their heels, compared to attacking with three-pointers replacing inside shots, Wagner said.
“We weren’t attacking like we were; we weren’t getting to the basket,” Wagner said. “We were relying too much on Gabe to – do all our hard work.”
Two games in, Richards is shooting .593 and replacing the inside scoring lost when Cathrine Kraayeveld and Andrea Bills graduated.
“Richards is deadly from up close,” said Dawn Staley, Temple coach and WNBA’s Houston Comets point guard. “We just tried to make them uncomfortable and make them make perfect passes.”
Temple provided Oregon an early test this season. Oregon role players from last season are forced into crunch time situations and it showed.
Oregon tried several times to involve 6-foot-6 Jessie Shetters
offensively. Twice, she had shots underneath the rim blocked by the rim with one coming as Oregon trailed by one with just more than a minute left. Richards lofted a pass out of bounds over Setters in the first half.
Eleanor Haring could have done more offensively against Dupree, coach Bev Smith said.
One other player, Carolyn Ganes, played one minute after scoring 15 points in Oregon’s 80-30 win Friday against St. Francis. Defensive match-ups with Temple’s quick posts was why, Smith said.
“We have a team that has some role players who haven’t been in that situation before and now they’re in it,” Smith said. “We took some shots and missed them. We just have to learn from that now that those shots will be there again.”

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