The Oregon women’s basketball team (33-5) fell 72-67 to the No. 1 overall seed Baylor Bears (36-1) Friday night in the Ducks’ first ever Final Four.

The game was as even as can be with 12 lead changes and 12 ties, but ultimately the Bears pulled away in the end, scoring the final five points of the game.

Baylor’s Kalani Brown, 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting, and Lauren Cox, 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting, dominated the paint for the Bears, while DiDi Richards added another 15 points.

Brown and Cox scored 12 points each in the second half. The Bears outscored the Ducks in the paint 48-20. Baylor relied exclusively on inside scoring, making zero 3-pointers (0-3) to Oregon’s 12 (12-32).

Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu led the Ducks with 18 points with Satou Sabally’s 16 and Erin Boley’s 14 not far behind.

Sabally committed two fouls in the first quarter, and was at four by the beginning of the fourth quarter, leading to extended trips to the bench. Her 3-pointer with one minute and 40 seconds left tied the game at 67, but the scoring stopped there.

Oregon’s starting five combined for 10 points in the fourth quarter with Ionescu scoring zero.

The Ducks got out to an early 11-4 lead thanks to two 3-pointers by Boley. However, Baylor outscored Oregon 15-4 over the final four minutes and 17 seconds of the first quarter to hold a 19-15 lead.

Despite zero first quarter points from Hebard and Ionescu, the Ducks were down just 19-15 at the end of 10 minutes.

The second quarter was all Ionescu. She finished the half as the leading scorer on either side with 12 points. She gave the Ducks their first lead since they took a brief 22-21 lead with seven minutes and 53 seconds left in the half when she hit a 3-pointer while being fouled. That 3 tied the game at 33 and her converted free throw sent the Ducks to the locker room up 34-33.

Although she scored just four points, Hebard came up with nine big rebounds and three steals, which kept the Ducks in the game.

This also marked the last game for Oregon’s seniors. Maite Cazorla had nine points, six rebounds and four assists while Oti Gildon had four points and three rebounds.

Baylor will play the winner of UConn and Notre Dame on Sunday.
Follow Maverick Pallack on Twitter @mavpallack