Pauley Pavilion provided the setting for upcoming attractions Saturday afternoon.
Senior Michelle Greco hit the game winner for UCLA, which overcame Oregon, 56-54, in a last-second thriller.
The Ducks had their chances at the end, but after three strikes, they were out.
After Greco’s final shot, sophomore Amy Taylor threw a full-court pass to junior Cathrine Kraayeveld, who beat the defense but missed the lay-up and didn’t get a foul. Strike one.
With 2.7 seconds left, Oregon inbounded the ball to Kraayeveld, but two Bruin defenders knocked the ball away. Strike two. Oregon had its last chance with 1.6 seconds left. The ball was lobbed to Kraayeveld over junior Whitney Jones but her shot was no good. Strike three.
“We had our opportunities to win this game,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith told KSCR-AM. “For me and our coaching staff and our players; we had the game, we had the opportunity and it kind of slipped away from us.”
Despite Oregon’s loss, the Ducks (12-15, 8-10 Pac-10) moved from seventh to fifth in the Pacific-10 Conference standings on the weekend. And with the Bruins (17-10, 12-6 Pac-10) in a secure fourth position, the two squads will meet again to do battle Saturday night in the Pac-10 Tournament.
It was an afternoon that included everything in Los Angeles, as the Ducks and Bruins met for the first time since Oregon took a huge 93-68 loss in December at McArthur Court.
From the opening tip, which went to the Bruins, Oregon struggled. UCLA opened a 9-0 lead early on the Ducks as it took Oregon more than five minutes to get on the scoreboard. But after a timeout by Smith, Oregon stepped out on the floor a changed team.
After patience and composure from the offense, the Ducks led 16-15 with just more than five minutes until halftime. The Ducks continued to dominate on Senior Day at the Pavilion and led 28-22 heading into the locker room.
The final 20 minutes provided much more theatrics than the first 20 as Oregon caught fire and opened up a 13-point lead early. But the Ducks soon realized the game was far from done.
The Bruins quietly crept their way back, and the full-court press helped to scatter Oregon’s offense. With more than six minutes left, UCLA trailed 46-44.
“In the second half, when they turned up their defensive pressure, we started to play tentative and we started going into a passing mode rather than an attack mode — that got us the lead in the first place,” Smith said.
It went back and forth, but after sophomore Kedzie Gunderson fouled out with 4:46 left, the Bruins soon saw daylight with a 51-51 tie. Tragedy again struck Oregon as junior Kayla Steen went on a fast break when her knee buckled and then a Bruin defender landed on her.
The Ducks took the lead once more, 54-52, after free throws from Kraayeveld, but with just more than one minute to play, it was all Greco.
As a fifth-year senior for UCLA, Greco couldn’t have wished for a better script in her last game at Pauley Pavilion. She led all scorers with 18 points and had five rebounds. Jones and freshman Nikki Blue, who combined for 50 points in the first meeting, each had just seven.
Sophomore Andrea Bills led Oregon as an offensive catalyst all afternoon, with 15 points and 11 rebounds. It was just the second double-double of Bills’ career. Kraayeveld added nine points and Taylor had eight for the Ducks.
After shooting 10-of-24 from the field in the first half, the Ducks finished at 38 percent for the game. Oregon won the rebound margin, 41-34, but turned the ball over 22 times.
The Bruins were just 33 percent from the field but shot 87 percent from the foul line. UCLA also had nine assists and 15 turnovers.
UCLA won the battle at home, but in five days the two will do war at the Pac-10 Tournament.