Civil War weekend has begun.
Deafening cheers rocked Matthew Knight Arena on Friday night. Vibrations were felt a second from tipoff and even more so when Ruthy Hebard scored the first basket of the game.
The atmosphere was playoff-like as 12,365 packed into the arena, and the players brought the heat and excitement to a Ducks’ victory 76-64.
Both teams matched the crowd’s high energy, but the Ducks opened the gates that the No. 7 Beavers could not close. Neither side had a perfect night, as expected when playing another top-10 team in the nation.
This game was a chess match. And both teams played it at the highest level.
The first bucket of the game was already a historic one as Sabrina Ionescu passed Oregon State alumnus and NBA legend Gary Payton for the most assists in Pac-12 history for men’s and women’s with 939 with her pick and roll duo Ruthy Hebard.
“I forgot about it,” Ionescu said.
Before this game, head coach Kelly Graves challenged his “Big Three” of Ionescu, Hebard and Satou Sabally to set the tone for the game, and they delivered. Ionescu led all scorers with 23 points, nine rebounds and four assists along with Sabally’s triple-double watch of 17 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. Hebard pitched in with an equal amount of points with nine rebounds.
“When those three are dialed in there is no better three in the country as a trio. They set the tone for us and they made us go early on,” Graves said.
When the Ducks are on fire offensively, there is no stopping them. Just ask Team USA or Stanford.
Although they did not shoot as high of a percentage as they normally do at 44% on the night, they made runs when they needed to.
“The margin for error is small against this team and we just did not answer,” said Oregon State head coach Scott Rueck.
Their largest lead was 21 heading into the final quarter and the crowd held their breath for a few minutes as the Beavers cut the lead to as little as 10 halfway through the fourth. The Beavers had multiple chances to cut the lead to single digits — and did so — but not for long, as the Ducks extended their lead once again.
“It wasn’t good enough. Definitely wasn’t good enough,” said Ionescu. “We need to keep our foot on the gas and keep going and keep building from that, but we didn’t. We’re definitely going to learn from that and be able to take that into the game on Sunday.”
Patience, execution and experience showed in that final quarter as the Ducks made their final push to put Oregon State away.
Even though these two schools are dubbed as one of the biggest rivalries in college basketball, they still share the same commonalities and goals.
“I know it’s a heated rivalry, but we’re still are Oregonians in terms of who we play for,” Graves said. “I think that is really special. What a showcase we had.”
A showcase indeed.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, half of the league’s general managers or WNBA head coaches, governor Kate Brown and U.S Representative Peter DeFazio and an abundance of Oregon alumni were all in attendance on Friday night.
This was more than a conference game; it was a great night for women in athletics. This shows the impact that college basketball, especially women’s basketball, has. The game shined a light on not only two top-10 rivals, but two teams that are making their mark in the sports world because their high level of play proves it.
“This was an awesome night. This may not be duplicated anywhere in the country, what we just witnessed and saw,” said Graves.
Neither team is completely satisfied with tonight and Oregon has lots to improve on — but they are excited to bring the green and yellow to Corvallis on Sunday for the rematch.
Follow Carly on Twitter @carlyebisuya
