It was a weekend of adjustments at the inaugural women’s basketball Pacific-10 Conference Tournament at McArthur Court.
Oregon made the adjustments on Friday and Saturday to earn a trip to the semifinals against Arizona State on Sunday.
Playing their third game in 36 hours, the Ducks trailed the Sun Devils by 12 at halftime, but Oregon made the necessary changes in the second half and at one point led by eight. Suddenly, a spot in Pac-10 Tournament championship game was within reach for the Ducks, who entered the weekend as the No. 7 seed.
Then Arizona State, struggling with Oregon’s zone defense throughout the game, made the proper adjustments and pulled away for a 64-58 win, propelling the third seeded Sun Devils into the championship game against top-seeded Stanford at 6:30 tonight.
Arizona State defeated the Ducks for the third time this season.
“There was no doubt that we were on the same court with them for a reason,” Oregon first year head coach Bev Smith said. “In the first half, they took some of our strengths away offensively, but we hung in there. I thought we kept them guessing when we were going to come back.”
The comeback came in the form of a 22-2 run, capped off by a Cathrine Kraayeveld three-pointer that put the Ducks ahead 43-35 with 10:46 left.
“It is frustrating that we lost because we played a great game,” Kraayeveld said. “We couldn’t get much going offensively in the first half, so I thought that we did a real good job of turning it around in the second half.”
As much as the Pac-10 tried to neutralize McArthur Court — most of the green and yellow was covered with the Pac-10’s gray and blue — Oregon fed off its crowd’s energy to keep the game close in the second half.
But Arizona State was not fazed.

“The No. 1 thing is to not get down like so many teams have found themselves while playing here,” Arizona State center Melody Johnson said. “The crowd shuts up real quick when there’s a turnaround, and that’s what we had to do.”
And that’s what the Devils did.
After being held in check in the first half, Arizona State guard Amanda Levens rattled off 11 points, including two deep three-pointers, in a 13-0 run that put the Sun Devils ahead 53-47 with 5:19 to play.
“Amanda Levens hit a lot of tough shots,” said Oregon guard Shaquala Williams, who had a game-high 21 points. “Some of her shots were three or four feet behind the three-point line. Against most players, you don’t have to defend that. We just caught on to her a little too late and let her get into a rhythm.”
A layin by senior guard Edniesha Curry brought Oregon within two at 57-55 with less than two minutes left, but ASU hit 7-of-10 free throws in the final minute to secure the win.
All of Oregon’s starters played at least 29 minutes (with Williams playing 38 minutes and freshman Andrea Bills 35), whereas Arizona State substituted frequently.
“(Oregon) got some good shots down the stretch, but they couldn’t put them in, and I like to think that was because our defense wore them down,” Arizona State head coach Charli Turner Thorne said.
Said Williams: “I think our team had plenty of energy and I think we could’ve played a whole other game.”

Oregon 78, Washington 64
Just a week after the Huskies defeated the Ducks in Seattle, Oregon found its revenge Saturday and sent No. 2-seed Washington home after its first game.
Washington has not won at Mac Court since Jan. 23, 1993.
Williams torched the Huskies for 26 points and five assists, but not before some controversy.
On more than one play in the second half, Williams tangled with Washington twins Giuliana and Gioconda Mendiola. Williams was elbowed in the jaw by Gioconda late in the game, but officials did not see the play. Moments later, during a timeout, Williams elbowed Mendiola in the arm as she walked by. Again, the referees did not see the exchange.
“The Mendiolas are tough kids, and they kind of have a chip on their shoulders when they play, but I think I do, too,” Williams said. “But when I’m on my home court, I’m not going to back down from anybody. If they take cheap shots, I’m going to throw them back.”
“But they’re going home, so I don’t really have to worry about that.”

Oregon 85,

Washington State 67
The dismal Cougars, the first team to finish 0-18 in Pac-10 play, put up a good fight in the first half against the Ducks in the first game of the Pac-10 Tournament.
Oregon led 36-31 at the break, but pulled away early in the second half as five Ducks scored in double figures.
Washington State had career games from Brittney Hawks (27 points, eight rebounds) and Jessica Perry (21 points, four assists, four steals).