Oregon women’s basketball (19-9, 7-8 Big Ten) and Katie Fiso started Thursday evening’s game off poorly. By half, Fiso had four turnovers, and 10 total turnovers for the Ducks. As it walked to the locker room, Oregon was down 37-33 and its offense didn’t look like the offense this lineup has been showing all season. But something flipped in the second half.

Coming off of two ranked losses by the hands of No. 9 Ohio State and No. 22 Washington, the Ducks hoped to end their two game losing streak Thursday evening against Nebraska.

The initial moments of the game were all Oregon. The Ducks came out firing, moving the ball well inside the key and around the arc, and looked like they were going to have an easy route to another conference win.

But Nebraska wasn’t going down easy. It jumped on Oregon very early on with aggressive defense, and the Ducks felt it. Oregon began to bobble and be hesitant with the ball and Nebraska forced turnovers. 

Fiso led the Ducks in turnovers on the night with six, four in the first half. The worst came off a steal from Sofia Bell who passed to Fiso for what looked to be an easy basket but was tapped away from her on her way up. 

Being less casual with the ball worked as Oregon was able to cut down on the number of turnovers they committed. With only six turnovers in the second half, the Ducks looked better on offense and it showed.

“It’s when you’re playing soft and hesitant that things don’t go your way,” head coach Kelly Graves said. “Second half, we just kind of flipped the script so to speak. We were a lot more aggressive, got downhill.”

Along with the aggressiveness in the second half, the Ducks controlled the ball, and that led to them getting back in the game. Oregon worked away at Nebraska’s lead, eventually cutting it to three — the smallest margin between the two since the beginning of the third quarter. 

The fourth quarter was the best of the night for Oregon. It held onto the ball, got its offense in a groove and erased the Huskers lead. Oregon pulled ahead 68-67 with just over three minutes remaining in the game.

“Stop being casual with the ball,” Fiso said postgame on how the Ducks were able to fix their turnover issue in the second half.

As a big part of that fourth quarter comeback Fiso, who looked completely different from her first half form, dropped 12 in the fourth quarter. She logged an assist and a steal and held onto the ball as she only committed two turnovers in the second half.

“Katie played a heck of a lot better in the second half than she played in the first half,” Graves said.

The Ducks looked confident in their passing and their shooting for the first time since the early stages in the game, and it showed. Fueled by Fiso’s late game push, the Ducks were back to playing solid offensive basketball which propelled them to a late stage 80-76 win over Nebraska.