The Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team (11-17, 2-13 Pac-12) could not manage to earn a win against the Washington Huskies (14-12, 4-11 Pac-12), falling 74-66. The Ducks were finally given a break after a stretch that saw them take on seven-straight opponents ranked inside the AP Top-25. However, Oregon could not muster up a win, making this now 10-straight losses.
The game finally saw some scoring come from outside of the normal big-three of Phillipina Kyei, Chance Gray and Grace VanSlooten. Kennedy Basham shattered her career-high — previously seven points — with a 15-point outburst to help the Ducks’ chances. It proved to be not enough for Oregon, regardless.
Basham has started every game for the Ducks since early December of this season, except for a one-game change that put her on the bench against the Utah Tech Trailblazers. However, her time on the court has rarely translated to positive impacts on the team, or even times where she seemed to contribute on the court at all. This game was her best performance of the season, and it came at the right time.
Kyei, who has arguably been Oregon’s most consistent player this season, fouled out of Friday’s game with two and a half minutes left in the contest. Prior to that, the pair of Basham and Kyei were a great duo for the Ducks. Kyei had one of her lesser scoring nights, getting just 10 points, which was made up for by Basham’s career-high. On the other end, Basham had just six rebounds, but Kyei tied a career-high of her own with 21. The pair of bigs for Oregon proved to be a match up nightmare for the Huskies.
Despite getting a strong performance from Basham, and a solid six points from Ula Chamberlin, the Ducks were unable to overcome a strong contribution from Washington’s bench, which totaled 21 points. Oregon got scoring from sources outside the big-three, but none of that came from the bench. In fact, the bench never took a shot.
Some familiar problems showed up once again for the Ducks, including the lack of production off the bench. A disadvantage from the 3-point line was one of the factors that allowed the Huskies to come back after falling behind early. Oregon made just three shots from deep in the game, compared to seven from Washington. This disparity helped the Huskies take the lead, and stay in control of the game for most of the contest.
The other major problem for the Ducks was turnovers. They totaled 18 in the game, including six in the fourth quarter, which helped Washington put Oregon away. Plenty of mistakes and miscues plagued the Ducks in the waning minutes of the game, and it was these mistakes that left them without the services of Kyei late. Kyei picked up two offensive fouls, and by extension, two turnovers, in quick succession to send her to the bench for the rest of the night.
In a season full of disappointing outcomes, Oregon dropping the first truly winnable game it has played in weeks is just another on the ever-growing pile. A season that Duck fans are going to be thrilled to see finally end has just three more games left. One of those games is against the currently Pac-12 leading, and No. 3 ranked Stanford Cardinal, the other two become much more important to try and break the streak.
A matchup with the Washington State Cougars on Sunday, Feb. 25 is the next game on the slate for Oregon, and sits as another winnable game on paper.
