Senior Kayla Steen hadn’t played a minute for the Ducks this season heading into Saturday night’s game against North Carolina State.
Complete with a brace on her left knee, the guard scored 11 points during her 14 minutes in the game and gave Oregon the spark it needed to overcome the Wolfpack, 83-78.
“It felt good (to have Steen back),” senior Cathrine Kraayeveld said. “I was telling her earlier that it didn’t feel like I’d played with her last season because we were both kind of in and out all year last year. She’s doing a great job, working her butt off in practice and I’m just happy for her to be able to come in and do such a good job and hit a couple of threes.”
Steen made her two three-point attempts in the first half, with the first putting Oregon momentarily ahead, 21-20, with a little more than 10 minutes left in the half. Her second came on the Ducks’ next scoring possession.
The senior guard also hit a three-pointer and two free throws in the game, finishing with one assist and her 11 points.
“We got back to playing team ball tonight,” head coach Bev Smith said. “I really appreciated our poise this evening.”
The Ducks extended their season-opening win streak to five games.
“(The Wolfpack is) very tough inside and that’s one of their biggest strengths,” Kraayeveld said. “We tried to focus on that and we let down a little bit — blocking out — but we tried to stick with it defensively and that was one of the keys to our game.”
The Ducks had 14 personal fouls, but forced North Carolina State to commit 19. Wolfpack senior Kaayla Chones fouled out of the game with 1:27 remaining, giving the Ducks more room to work inside.
Oregon was outrebounded, 39-25. North Carolina State had 19 offensive rebounds compared to the Ducks’ 20 defensively.
“They’re just such an athletic team, even if you do block them out, they’re able to come and jump up over you at times,” Kraayeveld said. “We did a pretty good job of sticking with it and just being tough in there and going after every rebound.”
The Ducks recovered from a poor shooting game Friday to hit 57 percent of their field goals and 78 percent of their free throw attempts in Saturday’s game.
“We learned (Friday) night that we really have to come ready to play every night,” guard Kedzie Gunderson said. “I think everyone stayed calm and we felt confidence from that.”
Friday, the Ducks pulled out a close victory against Kansas, 54-51, at McArthur Court.
“Our defense is what won us the game because our offense wasn’t clicking,” Brandi Davis said of the win against the Jayhawks. “We know if we play good defense, we’re going to win. We’ll take this and learn from it.”
As a team, Oregon made 29 percent of its shots from the field and was 62 percent from the free throw line.
Kraayeveld had her 20th double-double of her career with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Davis and center Andrea Bills led the Ducks with 14 points each.
“There really is no excuse for why we played so poor,” Smith said. “But we did hang in there defensively and played really tough.”
The Ducks outrebounded the Jayhawks, 39-37, with 24 of their rebounds coming defensively.
Oregon took the lead for the final time Friday on a layup by Davis with 1:42 remaining.
“I just saw an opening and thought it was the wisest move,” Davis said. “I was actually looking for a foul, but I was happy I could help the team.”
In the final 34 seconds, point guard Corrie Mizusawa hit four free throws in six attempts to ensure the three-point win.
Bills led Oregon with 31 points in the two games, while Kraayeveld had 28 points and Davis added 23. Kraayeveld and Bills were named to the All-Tournament team, and Kraayeveld also won tournament MVP honors.
“We’re excited about this win, to be 5-0, and it’s really going to help us coming in to these next two games,” Kraayeveld said.
Oregon makes a mini-road trip to Portland for a game against Portland on Thursday.