With just nine seconds remaining, Oregon women’s basketball (14-5, 5-3 Big Ten) led the Iowa Hawkeyes (12-7, 2-6 Big Ten) by one point. Iowa had the ball with the chance to win the game on the final shot. 

Less than an hour previous, the Ducks fell behind by 15 points with little to no route back into the contest. But here they were with a chance to close out the game with a strong defensive possession. 

That’s exactly what happened. Iowa’s shot attempt flew far to the right and Oregon held on to win 50-49 behind Phillipina Kyei’s eight second half points and team-leading 12 total. 

The Hawkeyes hoped to put an end to their four-game skid on Sunday afternoon, while the Ducks looked to make it four wins out of their last five. 

Oregon struggled to establish a presence in the paint on either end during the first quarter and fell behind early because of this. Iowa scored the game’s first 11 points. 

“We looked like we were sleep-walking in the first half, a little sluggish,” head coach Kelly Graves said.

Halfway through the first, Oregon still hadn’t scored a point. The Ducks failed to feed the ball inside and shots missed their mark, leaving little to no option in terms of scoring. 

“We were very low energy, we weren’t communicating. We were spastic on offense,” Deja Kelly said. 

The Ducks scored their first bucket two minutes later via an Alexis Whitfield three, but the crowd fell silent on the next possession as Iowa also sunk its first triple of the contest.

Oregon’s scoring smoothed out the rest of its game, but the Ducks still fell behind 17-7 after the opening frame. 

Iowa opened the second quarter with a deep three and the shots continued to rain in for the Hawkeyes. The 10-point lead quickly blossomed to 15, which spelled trouble for the Ducks. 

In the three minutes following an 8-0 Ducks run, Oregon didn’t score a single point and allowed Iowa to build its lead back up to double-digits. The Ducks struggled to close-out on shooters and rebound — Iowa outrebounded Oregon 23-13 in the first half and 40-26 in the entire game. 

“[Rebounding has] been one of our weaknesses…and I think we’ve been outrebounded by every opponent in conference play, we ultimately have to do a better job there,” Graves said.

The Hawkeyes took a 32-22 lead at half with no sign of slowing down.

A back-and-forth third quarter killed the Hawkeyes’ momentum, however, and slowly fueled Oregon’s quest for a win. The Ducks appeared much more comfortable with the ball as the second half progressed. 

Oregon scored the final four points in the third, including a APhillipina Kyei hook-shot as time expired, which dropped Iowa’s lead to just six. 

“It shows we have fight, that we’re competitive and that we don’t go down easily. The biggest adjustment was our defense. I think us picking up our intensity and our effort on that end allowed us to get out and run and get the shots we wanted,” Kelly said. 

Kyei scored the next four points and pulled Oregon within two. Kyei became crucial in the Ducks’ late comeback effort, as she also helped fuel a nine-minute scoring drought from Iowa’s offense. 

“What we are doing well is turning teams over. They’re getting extra shots on the boards, but they’re getting fewer shots because we are turning teams over,” Graves said. “They went 18 minutes when they only scored nine points in that second half, that’s getting it done.”

Oregon tied it up with just over six minutes to play, and Elisa Mevius popped the roof off the arena with a three to give the Ducks their first lead of the contest. On the other end, Iowa failed to replicate its first half offense and gave Oregon opportunities to go on quick scoring runs. 

“We were really locked in in that fourth quarter, we all knew how much it meant. Everyone was sacrificing their bodies,” Kelly said. 

The Ducks led by as much as five, but that seemed to trigger Iowa’s shot-making ability once again. That left Oregon ahead by just one point as the game entered the final minute. Leading up to that, Iowa held the Ducks scoreless for two-and-a-half minutes. 

But Oregon did enough and pulled out a gutsy home win in a contest where it seemed incredibly bleak at times. The Ducks emerged victorious 50-49 and now move on to another home contest against the Indiana Hoosiers on Friday at 6 p.m.