Loree Payne sat behind a microphone Saturday, moments after her Huskies had beaten the Oregon women’s basketball team, 75-59, in front of a season-high 5,369 fans at McArthur Court.
The senior didn’t show too much outward emotion, at least not until the end of her session with the media. But she did show flashes of a smile because, after all, Washington had just beaten the Ducks for the first time at Mac Court since 1993 — a span of 10 games.
And Payne, playing in her last regular season game against the Ducks, played a large part in
that victory.
“It’s great to celebrate a victory, but we know we have work to do,” she said of Washington, the Pacific-10 Conference’s second-place team. “Every win is huge. Each victory is sweeter and sweeter.”
Payne poured in 24 points — 15 in the second half — while fellow senior Kellie Dalan was close behind with 23. Together, the duo led Washington (20-6 overall, 12-5 Pac-10) to the convincing victory. The win pushed the Huskies to their first 20-win regular season under head coach June Daugherty, who came to the team in 1996.
“Everybody had fire in their eyes,” Dalan said. “When you can look at a teammate and they have no doubts, you know you’re OK.”
For Oregon, the loss is the team’s first since losing to Stanford on Feb. 6, snapping a three-game winning streak.
The Ducks, according to junior Cathrine Kraayeveld, didn’t necessarily play that badly. Aside from shooting 19 percent from the field in the first half, Oregon’s (11-14, 7-9) poise was key to keeping the game close early on.
But the Huskies were a far more experienced team. Washington’s five seniors accounted for 51 of the team’s 75 points.
“We ran into a team that was very good and very determined,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith said. “Certainly, they are an experienced team.”
Sophomore Andrea Bills led the Ducks with 14 points while Kraayeveld, in just her third game back since suffering a staph infection in her right knee Dec. 26, scored 11.
Oregon’s seniors — Alissa Edwards and Kourtney Shreve — played a minimal role in the loss. Edwards had three points in 31 minutes while Shreve ended up with three rebounds and one turnover in 14 minutes. The game marked the last time the two will play at Mac Court in an Oregon uniform.
Overall, as a team, the Ducks shot just over 30 percent from the field, and hit on 6-of-20 shots from beyond the 3-point arc. Sophomore Brandi Davis was just 3-of-11 on the night, with all three counting as treys.
“In the beginning, nobody was making anything,” Kraayeveld said. “We rushed a little bit and panicked because our shots weren’t falling and that hurt us.”
To say that nobody made anything in the beginning was spot on, especially for the Husky offense. Daugherty’s squad missed its first six shots of the game and went 1-of-11 from the field in the first six minutes.
Oregon, on the other hand, shot just as poorly, hitting for only six points in the first seven minutes. The Ducks finished the half just 5-of-26 from the field, a statistic that is blurred by shooting 25 percent from 3-point land. Oregon was just 2-for-14 on 2-point attempts in the first half.
“When you shoot 19 percent, it doesn’t help matters,” Smith said.
Defensively, both teams played strong. The Ducks kept Washington at a 42 percent shooting clip. The Huskies, meanwhile, kept Oregon from establishing its inside presence, evidenced by just 12 overall points in the paint for the Ducks.
“I thought we just came down here and played great defense,” Daugherty said. “That’s what
was key.”
The game remained close until the last four minutes of the first half. Washington, up 23-18 at the 3:48 mark, went on a 15-5 run to separate itself from Oregon.
Dalan and Payne combined to score the last 20 points of the half for Washington, which had pushed its lead up, 38-20, with less than 10 seconds left.
Davis, however, made sure Oregon ended the half on a hot streak by nailing a pull-up 3-pointer as time expired.