Ever since the disastrous road trip to Arizona, the Oregon women’s basketball team has tried to climb the conference standings and contend for the NCAA Tournament.
Those chances are running out.
Fresh off an uninspired blowout at the hands of powerhouse Stanford, Oregon failed to overcome a miserable start in a 49-39 loss to California at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif., Saturday.
Six games are left in Oregon’s season, four within McArthur Court’s confines. Oregon plays Arizona on Thursday and Arizona State on Sunday. The Ducks are 13-9 overall and tied for seventh in the Pacific-10 Conference at 4-8.
Oregon had its chances Saturday, mainly because of a strong defensive performance that held Cal to less than 50 points for the second time this season. The Ducks cut a 16-point deficit to four, 41-37, with 4:10 left.
Cal’s freshmen – four are starters – played large roles at the end. Alexis Gray-Lawson scored seven consecutive points after Oregon drew within four, including a layup with 10:57 left to make it a 10-point lead, 47-37.
Gray-Lawson finished with 15 points, matched by forward Devanei Hampton. Hampton grabbed 11 rebounds and forward Ashley Walker completed a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
“The second half was the best we have played on this road trip,” senior guard Brandi Davis said in a University press release. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.”
Chelsea Wagner guided Oregon’s comeback, making two second-half three-pointers as part of her 11 point, six rebound performance off the bench. Wagner moved into a tie for 10th place for most three-pointers in a season for Oregon with 43, tying Davis.
Wagner, who went scoreless two nights before on 0-for-5 shooting, continues to play while dealing with a right ankle injury and sore surgically repaired left knee.
Her performance also signified Oregon’s problem, where the lack of outside shooting allows teams to pack defenders inside and neutralize Gabrielle Richards.
“We need to get more scoring out of our post position,” Oregon coach Bev Smith said on KSCR-1320 AM.
Richards has shown flashes of becoming a force this season, but has disappeared at other times, partly because of the defenses. She went scoreless Saturday on four shots with four rebounds. This coming after Richards posted 13 points and 18 rebounds and 23 points and 13 rebounds in back-to-back performances last week against Oregon State.
Smith said afterward that coaches are trying to add jump hooks to create more options on offense.
“If you do establish that little jump hook, it doesn’t matter who’s defending you, you can throw it over them,” Smith said during the broadcast interview.
California took advantage of Oregon’s errors on offense, scoring 17 points off the Ducks’ 21 turnovers.
On defense, forward Jessie Shetters provided a bright spot, blocking three shots.
Oregon started Saturday’s game without a field goal in the first seven minutes, finally scoring at the 12:10 mark on a three-pointer by Davis.
The Ducks shot just 17.2 percent in the first half on 5-for-29 shooting. They improved in the second half to 33.3 percent, but it wasn’t enough. Cal’s advantage over Oregon offensively extended to the free-throw line as well, where the Golden Bears made 20 free throws in 30 attempts to Oregon’s seven in nine.
“We made some stupid fouls early in the game, but came back and played great defense to give ourselves a chance,” Wagner said in a University press release.
 

 
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