Seven games into the season and Amanda Johnson is quickly making a name for herself.
The sophomore forward scored a career-high 32 points and pulled down 11 rebounds en route to a 95-68 win over Portland on Wednesday night.
The 32 points fell just six short of the all-time Oregon women’s record (38), set by former head coach Bev Smith.
“I feel like over the weekend I was a little frustrated with the way my shots were going,” Johnson said. “Tonight I wasn’t really thinking about the shots and they were just falling for me.”
Shots were falling all across the board for the Ducks, who shot 48.6 percent from the field and an astonishing 59.1 percent from behind the three-point line.
Senior guard Micaela Cocks scored just 18 seconds into the game, and the Ducks were off and running from there. The team built a 12-point lead with under 10 minutes to play in the first half and Johnson hit a three to give the Ducks a 49-32 lead at the intermission. Redshirt junior forward Victoria Kenyon found her stride early in the game, and by halftime had already tied her career-high of 11 points.
“I definitely had a good rhythm,” Kenyon said. “(I was) just taking the shots I was given … and they dropped so I was happy with that.”
Guard Taylor Lilley struggled in the first half, going 0-7 from the field and 0-5 from three-point range. Thus, the senior wasted little time going to work in the second half, hitting two layups within the first minute. From there, the Ducks went on a 10-5 run to start the half and consecutive three-pointers by Johnson gave Oregon a commanding 67-43 lead with 15 minutes remaining.
Johnson’s shots continued to fall, and the Ducks’ lead grew accordingly. Oregon’s full-court press also began to wear down the Pilots, who committed 10 turnovers in the second half and 24 overall.
The Pilots never recovered in the second half, and a three-pointer from junior guard Kristi Fallin with just 0:09 seconds remaining gave the Ducks a 95-68 win.
Redshirt sophomore guard Nia Jackson finished with a career-high eight assists, while sophomore forward Jasmin Holliday turned in an impressive all-around performance with eight points, seven rebounds and three assists. Despite a rough start, Lilley finished with 11 points, and Kenyon added 13 points with 5 rebounds. Junior forward Nicole Canepa also contributed nine points and nine rebounds off the bench.
“We certainly played well enough to win,” Westhead said. “I’m very hopeful that we can and will play better basketball. That’s probably the best position to be in: 6-1 and need to improve.”
The Pilots were held to just 34.8 percent from the field, and 27.8 percent from three-point land. Portland’s bench players scored just six points, and the team allowed 29 points off of turnovers.
One shining light for the Pilots was senior guard Laiken Dollente, who finished with 23 points, six rebounds and six assists.
“She’s a delightful player,” Westhead said. “She made some very nice plays.”
Sophomore forward Alexis Gannis pitched in 10 points and nine rebounds, and junior guard Tara Cronin had 14 points of her own. The Pilots did out-rebound the Ducks 44-42, including 16 on offense. The Ducks had just 12 offensive rebounds, which simply won’t cut it for Westhead.
“I’m greedy for offensive rebounds,” Westhead said. “Twelve are not near enough. It should be 18 to 24. So there’s an area that we need to (clean up).”
“(Coach) looks at that statistic and he measures effort by that,” Johnson said. “The fact that we didn’t get those (offensive rebounds) is a reflection of a little bit of lack of hustle tonight, a lack of determination to capitalize on opportunities that we should have taken advantage of.”

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