Coming out of a timeout with just over 30 seconds left in the game, the Ducks women’s basketball team found themselves down by two.
Endyia Rogers, who led the team with 18 points, drove towards the basket to pull in defenders, then dished the ball out to Ahlise Hurst beyond the 3-point line.
Hurst’s shot didn’t find the net as a Sun Devil grabbed the rebound to be immediately fouled with 28 seconds left.
The Ducks weren’t able to score for the rest of the game as they were upset by Arizona State 55-49. Scoring well below their season average of 73.6 points per game, the Ducks could never find a consistent shooting rhythm. Arizona State was able to capitalize off this by getting to the line and grabbing opportunistic offensive boards.
“This was a tough trip for us,” coach Kelly Graves said. “Every season you have a high water mark, we’ve had one of those, and I think this is considered our low…. Sometimes you can’t get better until you have that low point so hopefully we’ll use this to get better.”
Both teams started cold from the field, ASU going 1-of-14 and the Ducks shooting 4-of-14 in the first quarter. Oregon entered the second quarter up 12-6.
At one point in the second quarter the Sun Devils were 1-20 and 2-23 from the field, but the Ducks weren’t able to take advantage of those eye-opening numbers.
Arizona State’s ability to get offensive rebounds gave them second chance points and free throws, keeping them in the game.
Getting to the line was a huge difference for the Sun Devils as they went 16-of-23 on their free throws compared to the Ducks’ 4-of-8.
The Ducks went into halftime up 23-20, shooting 30% from the field and ASU going 18% in the first half.
Things started to open up in the second half.
Both teams went 7-of-14 from the field in the third, but getting to the free throw line made the difference for ASU as the Ducks found themselves down 41-38 going into the fourth quarter.
Oregon couldn’t build off the slight offensive success they saw in the third. With only 11 fourth quarter points, going 4-of-15 from the field, it wasn’t enough to hold off the Sun Devils.
“They’re a really good defensive team, they gave us all we could handle earlier in the week at our place,” Graves said. “But if you don’t score 50 points you’re never going to win on the road, not in Pac-12 play.”
The Ducks were never able to take advantage of the Sun Devils’ shooting slumps, which came back to bite them in the end.
With two straight losses, the Ducks will look to get back in the win column on Wednesday, Feb. 9, when they face Washington State in Pullman.
