The Oregon women’s basketball team gave its last performance at Mathew Knight Arena for the 2016-17 season. What looked like a runaway victory for No. 8 Stanford became a close game after the Ducks fought back, but fell just short.
Stanford, by hitting late free throws, defeated Oregon 65-59 on Sunday, the program’s senior day.
The Ducks trailed by 12 heading into the fourth quarter. Within a span of two minutes, Oregon cut the lead to five. Oti Gildon, Sabrina Ionescu and Maite Cazorla all scored in Oregon’s 8-0 run to begin the fourth quarter.
Stanford answered with a 3-pointer, but Lexi Bando buried one minute later, her her first of the game.
From there, the game was determined by Stanford free throws. From two minutes on, Stanford shot 89 percent from the line. However, Stanford’s Marta Sniezek missed two free throws after an intentional foul by Oregon. Stanford’s Alanna Smith grabbed the offensive rebound, which led to another intentional foul by Oregon, and more free throws.
If the Ducks had grabbed the rebound, they would’ve had the ball down five points with one minute left. Instead, they got the ball down six, only to turn it over.
“We had the right player at the line and the outcome on the shot,” head coach Kelly Graves said. “But again, we just didn’t block out on the shot.”
The Ducks were close, but it wasn’t enough against a top-10 team.
“Obviously disappointed in the outcome, but I was really proud of our basketball team; I thought the way we battled back, and had a chance there at the end,” Graves said.
Oregon’s defense spurred the fourth quarter comeback. Oregon held Stanford to 33 percent shooting from the field and 17 percent shooting from 3-point range during the quarter.
“Defense is where it starts, and as cliché as it sounds, defense does win championships,” Bando said.
However, throughout the game, it was Stanford’s ability to control the boards that gave the Cardinal the edge. The final rebounding numbers favored Stanford, 39-27.
Oregon did not shoot the ball well. The Ducks shot 35 percent from the field — not enough to topple a talented Stanford team, especially when losing in the rebounding category.
“Again, we did not have a great shooting night, especially in the first half,” Graves said. “In the second half it was much better.”
“That’s been our biggest issue down the stretch is our inability to hit easy baskets,” Graves continued.
With the loss, the Ducks fall to 18-12 and 8-10 in conference play. They earned the No. 6 seed in the upcoming Pac-12 Tournament. They’ll get a rematch of last year’s game, playing No. 11 Arizona. Tip off is set for 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Oregon has yet to win a game in the Pac-12 Tournament since Graves was hired.
“We’re coming out with some vengeance. We’re a little pissed off that we haven’t made it far in that tournament,” Bando said. “I think we can make a run.”
Follow Jack Butler on Twitter @Butler917