Oregon women’s basketball (19-10, 10-8 Big Ten) simply needed to take care of business one game at a time in the final stretch of the season.
A trip to Washington (18-12, 9-9 Big Ten) proved too much to handle and the Ducks’ chances of making the NCAA Tournament slimmed in a 63-56 loss.
Oregon’s day started off with the news that junior guard Elisa Mevius would miss the remainder of the season with a hand injury.
Without one of their biggest 3-point threats, the Ducks struggled to find supplementary scoring early. Oregon only scored four field goals outside of Peyton Scott and Deja Kelly in the first half. In the first quarter, 17 of the team’s 19 points came from the backcourt duo.
The Ducks’ defense stayed steady in the first quarter. Oregon held Washington without a field goal for nearly four minutes at the end of the first to finish on an 8-0 run.
But the Ducks couldn’t rely on Scott and Kelly for the entire game. The Huskies started the second quarter on a run of their own, in part, due to the eight Oregon turnovers in the period.
Freshman Katie Fiso hit a buzzer beater jumper to cut the deficit to three but the damage of a 21-11 quarter was already done.
Washington’s Dalayah Daniels made all the right plays on Sunday. She intercepted an Amina Muhammad pass to the paint before tallying a second straight steal on the following possession. The Huskies swished in a triple to clinch their largest lead up to that point.
The Ducks continued to fight but never regained the lead. Former Husky Alexis Whitfield rolled in a layup with 2:40 remaining to cut it to one possession but missed a crucial attempt a minute later. Ari Long fouled battling for a rebound and the lights dimmed on Oregon’s chances of coming back.
Kelly was the hero when the two sides faced off in Eugene in February, sealing a one-point victory from the stripe. Daniels knew who the Ducks were looking to find in crunch time on Sunday.
Daniels swatted away Kelly’s layup on the left side of the hoop to energize the Husky crowd with 1:13 left.
Oregon finished the game 0-for-6 from the floor as Washington split the season series.
The Ducks head to Indiana next for the Big Ten Tournament, which runs from March 5 through March 9. They’ll need to play in the first round after the latest loss, with only the top nine seeds receiving a first round bye.
