In a game that left the Ducks battered and bruised, flustered and frustrated, one number stood out.
Twenty-six. Twenty-six percent of the shots Oregon (10-8 overall, 5-4 Pacific-10 Conference) took against Oregon State on Saturday went in the basket. For you math wizards out there, that’s 16-of-60 from the field.
In fact, Oregon made more shots from the foul line (18) and committed more fouls (18) than made field goals.
To make matters worse, the Ducks shot just 3-of-18 from beyond the three-point arc in the 61-53 loss, their lowest scoring output of the season. Sophomore Cathrine Kraayeveld, taking only her sixth and seventh shots of the season from downtown, sank one with a little more than six minutes left in the game and pulled the Ducks within two at 44-42.
But that was the end of that.
“Our emphasis was on defense and getting out to their three-point shooters,” Oregon State guard Felicia Ragland said. “They’re good shooters, but our defense made them think twice about shooting outside.”
Oregon’s “big three” — guards Jamie Craighead, Edniesha Curry and Shaquala Williams — went a combined 2-for-15 from beyond the arc, but still contributed 27 of the Duck’s 53 overall points.
“We have to make shots, and I think that’s the reason we didn’t win this game,” Curry said. “We had great open looks; I don’t think we were knocking them down. It was just one of those nights for our perimeter.”
Instead, the Ducks had problems getting their offense going, especially in the second half. After allowing Oregon State (10-9, 6-3) to stay with them throughout the first half, the Ducks needed to get their act together in the second stanza.
It didn’t happen.
After Craighead nailed her only three-pointer of the game 17 seconds into the half, the Beavers went on a 9-0 run over the next eight minutes.
Oregon was able to keep it close by winning the battle of the boards, but their inability to capitalize on second and third shots kept them from pulling even with the Beavers. While the Ducks out-rebounded OSU on the offensive boards overall, the Beavers still had more second chance points.
“They were getting a lot of second and third shots, but our kids just stayed in there and battled,” Oregon State head coach Judy Spoelstra said.Kraayeveld grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds but was just 2-of-9 from the field.
“We got most of the shots we wanted, but they just weren’t falling,” Kraayeveld said. “We kind of let it get to us, and we kind of rushed them toward the end.”
The Ducks said they will not dwell on the loss, though. Southern California enters McArthur Court on Thursday and will put out the same kind of intensity that allowed them to pin an 83-73 loss on the Ducks in Los Angeles earlier this season. Oregon shot 48 percent from the field that game and played well against a strong Trojan defense.
Oregon needs to find out what happened to its shooting against Oregon State. Then the Ducks have to take it and bring back the magic.
“When you want something to happen and you only focus on that happening, you begin to focus on the result rather than the process,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith said. “When you start to rush things and start to really want to score, then you forget the little things that need to be done to create good scoring opportunities.”