With all the talk of the Oregon women’s basketball team being snake-bitten by injuries, an abundance of turnovers over the weekend proved to be the most poisonous venom.
Despite senior Cathrine Kraayeveld’s sixth double-double effort of the season, Oregon couldn’t outlast Arizona State and fell 74-65 in front of 1,811 fans at Wells Fargo Arena on Saturday.
“We’re happy about the way we played, although we came up with a loss,” Kraayeveld said. “We were a lot more aggressive and assertive than we were against Arizona.”
While the Ducks (12-6 overall, 5-4 Pacific-10 Conference) may be happy with their performance, they still committed 14 turnovers in the first half and 25 total — one less than their season-high.
Kraayeveld proved to be Oregon’s most vital asset with 20 points (7-of-11 shooting) and 10 rebounds in 37 minutes. No other Duck reached double-digits in any category.
“She really had to work for things and she didn’t get any clean looks that she usually gets,” Arizona State head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “We did a solid job on her overall.”
It was a defensive battle in the first half with the Sun Devils recording seven of their nine blocks in the first 20 minutes.
Arizona State (14-5, 6-3) manufactured a 15-2 scoring run over an eight-minute period in the middle of the first half. Neither team shot better than 35 percent out of the gate, but Oregon managed to nibble back and tie the game at 19 on an Eleanor Haring jump shot with 1:50 left in the half. The score settled in Arizona State’s favor, 23-19 at the break.
“In the first half we were a bit disappointed with the turnovers,” head coach Bev Smith said. “It seems to be a consistent part of our game. It’s something we have to eradicate.”
The Sun Devils figured out how to score in the second half and tip-toed to their largest lead of the game at 55-40 with 4:57 remaining.
Sophomore guard Kylan Loney made three three-pointers in the second half, two of which were five feet beyond the arc. She finished with 13 points.
Oregon shot 3-of-8 from three-point range. All three came in the final four minutes of play with senior Brandi Davis sinking two of them.
“We had a few defensive breakdowns, in part from our fatigue and the way Arizona State plays,” Smith said about the second half.
Senior point guard Corrie Mizusawa saw 35 minutes of action for Oregon and posted eight points to go with game-highs in assists (6) and steals (3). With Mizusawa’s final assist of the game, she notched the 300th of her career.
“Our team still feels good about what we created in this game and how we played intensely,” Smith said. “There are no moral victories and our team is very disappointed.”
Arizona State’s 74 points is the second-highest total scored against Oregon this season. Southern California and Washington each posted 77.
The Ducks are now 1-4 against Pac-10 opponents on the road, but return to McArthur Court this week to face UCLA and USC.
Ducks drop second straight road game to ASU
Daily Emerald
January 23, 2005
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