For what it’s worth, the Oregon women’s basketball team nearly upended the second-ranked team in the country Thursday night at McArthur Court.
Nearly, however, is never good enough — especially for a team trying to push it’s way back into the NCAA Tournament picture.
Oregon City native Lindsey Yamasaki scored a game-high 24 points as No. 2 Stanford won its first game at McArthur Court in four years with a 77-72 victory over the Ducks. The Cardinal (23-1 overall) are 13-0 in the Pacific-10 Conference.
With its third straight loss, Oregon drops to 7-7 in Pac-10 play (12-11 overall), putting its hopes of a ninth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance in doubt.
“We felt we could beat them,” Oregon junior guard Shaquala Williams said. “For some reason, Stanford brings out the best in us.”
Oregon’s best came in the opening minutes of the second half, when the Ducks outscored the Cardinal 21-6 to take a 52-46 advantage with 12:43 remaining.
In a one-minute stretch, reserve guard Alissa Edwards ignited the Ducks with three straight buckets, her only field goal attempts of the game. Edwards sank a three-pointer at the 13:37 mark to give Oregon its first lead since midway through the first half. As Stanford point guard Nicole Powell tried to bring the ball upcourt after the trey, Edwards swiped the ball and drove past Powell for an easy, left-handed layin.
After a steal by Cathrine Kraayeveld, Edwards found herself wide open on the right side and swished an open jumper, giving Oregon the six-point lead, its largest of the game.
“We don’t notice the score,” Edwards said after the game. “We just try to play hard for 40 minutes.”
Oregon knew Stanford’s run was coming — and so did the Cardinal.
“Up six with that much time left, you might as well be tied with Stanford,” Williams said. “You can’t take comfort in that.”
Powell nailed a three just after the halfway point of the second half to knot the game at 56, which is where the game stood for nearly five minutes. Freshman center Andrea Bills scored a bucket inside to give the Ducks a 58-56 lead, which would prove to be their last.
“I knew we were going to win this game,” said Powell, who finished the game with 20 points, six rebounds and six assists. “(Oregon) took it to us, but we kept our poise and didn’t panic.”
All of Stanford’s points in the final four minutes came at the charity stripe as the Cardinal converted 17-of-20 free throws.
“One of the things we talked about in practice was trying to give our maximum effort,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith said. “I think everyone left the floor tonight with nothing left to give.”
Williams paced the Ducks with 22 points, but no one else scored in double figures. Kraayeveld had eight points and nine rebounds.