Oregon Women’s Basketball (11-9, 2-5 Pac-12) hoped to end their Bay Area roadtrip with a win against the Cal Golden Bears (13-6, 3-4 Pac-12). The Ducks led for most of Sunday’s contest, but were thwarted at the end by Cal’s defensive acumen and some strong minutes from its bench unit.
The theme of the game for both teams was defense. The Ducks held the Bears to just 32.4% from the field and 25.6% from three. The Bears made just 10 of their 39 3-pointers, which for many teams would be the sign of a tough loss. Not this time.
Oregon usually has a considerable advantage over its opponents on the boards due to its tall starting lineup anchored by center Phillipina Kyei. This was not the case against Cal, as the Ducks were outrebounded 45-35, and 22-9 on offensive rebounds.
Oregon played exceptional team defense all game, but were bogged by Cal’s ability to box out on offense and create second-chance points. This effort wasn’t due to any one player, but the whole team’s collective effort to work hard and fight for extra chances.
The Ducks had a hard time keeping the ball when they needed to as well, giving up 20 turnovers throughout the game.
What made it worse for the Ducks was that their top playmaker and star point guard Chance Gray was the source of 11 of those turnovers.
This is where the real difference showed itself to both teams. Cal scored 28 points off Ducks’ turnovers, which is a score on almost 15 out of the 20 turnovers. Oregon gave Cal easy opportunities to score off turnovers and get second chance points, which came back to bite the Ducks in the end when they couldn’t finish the game off.
Gray also had one of her least efficient nights shooting, as she shot 4-13 for 11 points on the night.
The thing that made everything worse for Oregon was its performance in the fourth quarter. The Ducks shot an abysmal 21.4% in the final frame, as the Bears outscored them 19-9 in the fourth.
The fourth quarter was a microcosm for the rest of the game.
Turnovers, lack of boxing out and a lot of missed shots defined the end of the Ducks lead in this game.
Oregon wasn’t able to figure out a way to close this one out, which can’t become a trend if it is looking to move out of the bottom feeders of the Pac-12.
