Jillian Alleyne had another banner night for Oregon on Friday.
The senior had 27 points and 13 rebounds, broke the school record for most double-doubles and jumped into No. 2 all-time in career points to lead Oregon to a 69-58 win over Utah.
The win gives Oregon its fourth straight and the Ducks improve to 18-6 (7-6 Pac-12). They’ve now taken sole possession of sixth place in the conference standings.
“Right from the get-go, Utah came to play,” head coach Kelly Graves said. “I really liked how our team settled down and defended much better in the second quarter. We kind of got control of the game.”
Lexi Bando had 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range and Kat Cooper, once against starting for the Ducks, had seven points. Emily Potter finished with 23 points for Utah (14-10, 6-7) and Paige Crozon added 12 rebounds.
Oregon trailed 18-15 after the first quarter. Down 20-19 in the second, Oregon rattled off four consecutive 3-pointers to lead 31-24 with 2:21 left before halftime. In total, Oregon outscored Utah 20-6 in the second quarter and had an 35-24 advantage over the Utes at halftime, which was its largest lead of the first half.
The first time the two teams played this season, Utah held freshman Maite Cazorla scoreless, but in the second meeting, she had nine points and four assists.
“Maite is just playing amazing,” Bando said. “She stayed really composed. She had two players on her most of the time when she was bringing the ball up. She just handles pressure really well.”
Bando led the Ducks in scoring in the first half with 11 points followed by Alleyne’s eight points and six rebounds. Oregon shot 50 percent and allowed Utah to shoot 37.9 percent from the floor. In the first half, the Ducks were 5-for-9 from 3-point range.
Utah outscored Oregon 19-14 in the third quarter to make it a 49-43 Duck lead after three quarters. Utah cut the Oregon lead to four points at 61-51 with 4:00 left to play before Lexi Petersen, who had seven points and five assists, hit a 3-pointer to extend the UO lead to 64-57. Petersen’s bucket sparked an 8-1 Duck run to finish the game.
“It was huge,” Graves said of Petersen’s bucket. “I had just challenged her just before to make some big plays. And she did. That three got us some breathing room.”
Oregon won the rebounding battle 39-35 and forced 15 Utah turnovers and committed 12. Oregon shot a combined 42.6 percent from the field and Utah finished at 40 percent.
Alleyne’s 27 points jumped her into second place all-time in Oregon scoring. The senior now has 2,077 total points. Always one to place more importance on winning over individual records, the senior said “the wins are coming.”
“We’ve tried to talk to the team about: This is fun,” Graves said. “This is what you play for. To have a chance to down the stretch in big games like this. Our players have never played in a big game in February. A really meaningful game. I think they’re having some fun with it.”
Alleyne said the Ducks are playing “like there’s no tomorrow.”
“The team right now, we’re in a good state of mind,” Alleyne said. “We have confidence, way more confidence than we did in the first five Pac-12 games. … It’s really good right now.”
Next up: Oregon returns to action on Sunday versus Colorado at Matthew Knight Arena. It will be the program’s annual Play4Kay fundraiser game.
Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne