When it rains, it pours.
After allowing 53 points to Arizona on Friday, the Oregon women surrendered 49 points in the first half to Arizona State on Sunday en route to an 86-72 loss at McArthur Court.
“We just got flat-out beat, particularly in the first half,” first-year Oregon coach Bev Smith said. “They came out with incredible focus, incredible discipline and incredible aggressiveness.”
The Ducks (9-6 overall, 4-2 Pacific-10 Conference) jumped out to a quick 11-5 lead, but would relinquish it only minutes later when a jumper by Sun Devils’ freshman Alexis Tate tied it at 13. From that point on, it was all Arizona State (12-4, 3-2).
Junior Shaquala Williams led the Ducks with 31 points on the strength of four three-pointers. But Oregon shot only 39 percent from the field — compared to Arizona State’s 57 percent — and saw two of its starters kept off the scoreboard.
“You can look at the stat sheet, crumple it up and throw it away,” Williams said. “We were out-worked and out-played.”
An 11-3 run late in the first half propelled the Sun Devils to a 49-30 lead going into halftime, the first time the Ducks have trailed at the break since their 83-73 loss to USC on Dec. 22. Junior Amanda Levens led Arizona State with 12 points at the half, and paced the team with 22 on the night. The Sun Devils are now 11-2 on the season when Levens leads them in scoring.
As a team, Arizona State shot 57 percent from the field, and was 17-of-19 from the line. Levens iced the Ducks with six free made throws in the last minute of the game, keeping it out of reach.
“We really have some good shooters on this team,” said Arizona State guard Betsy Boardman, a Portland native.
After the game, the biggest concern was not on the Ducks’ play, but on the team’s effort.
“It doesn’t matter who you play,” Williams said. “You have to give the same effort and for some reason we didn’t do it today.”
Said Smith: “This is a team that needs to fight and needs to get used to fighting. We have to do that from the outset.”
After missing the previous three games and playing only partial minutes against USC because of a ruptured plantar facitis in her left foot, senior Edniesha Curry came off the bench late in the first half, and contributed seven points in 10 minutes. Curry’s up-tempo play kept the 4,804 fans in the game, and more importantly, her team. But it was not enough as Oregon was iced late in the game by the Sun Devils’ sharp-shooters and tough defense.
“It’s absolutely huge,” Boardman said when asked about the importance of winning at Mac Court. “It’s nice to win at home but it’s even nicer to win on the road.”
Oregon opened its two-game homestand in impressive fashion with a 72-53 smoking of Arizona on Friday. Behind sophomore Cathrine Kraayeveld’s 18 points and 11 rebounds, both career highs, the Ducks jumped out to a 34-20 lead at halftime and never looked back.
Kraayeveld teamed with freshman Andrea Bills to produce an inside presence the Wildcats could not combat. Bills finished with 10 points as the Ducks dominated the inside game, scoring 24 points in the paint to Arizona’s 10.