Eugene, OR – The Oregon women hosted the No. 2-ranked Stanford Cardinal this afternoon in Eugene in front of 8,981 fans, looking to get a key victory in hope of hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. The Cardinal came in as winners of their first 13 conference games, looking for an undefeated Pac-12 season. In a game the Cardinal trailed most of the time, they came back led by ten fourth quarter points from Haley Jones to top the Ducks 66-62. Jones took control of the game when it mattered and finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and two assists. Te-Hina Paopao led Oregon with 23 points on 8-of-20 from the field.
Oregon started off well with Sydney Parrish (13 points) connecting on their first three-point attempt after they missed all 16 shots from deep against Cal on Friday night. The Ducks went out to a 7-1 lead. Parrish hit another three-pointer while Stanford was cold from the floor, missing 17 of their 19 shots in the period including all six of their three-point attempts. The Cardinal kept close by getting to the foul line nine times and the quarter ended with the Ducks in from 14-10.
The Cardinal continued their cold shooting into the second quarter. At one point they were 2-of-21 from the field including 0-of-9 on 3s. Oregon extended their lead to ten points (23-13) on a corner three from Paopao. Stanford started to creep closer helped by the inside play of 6-3 freshman Kiki Iriafen who scored nine points in nine minutes on 4-of-5 from the field. She cut the Ducks lead to 34-31 late in the period on a driving layup. Paopao came back with a lay-in of her own to give Oregon a 36-31 halftime advantage.
The Cardinal hit half their shots in the period and ended the half shooting 30.3 percent from the field and only 2-of-12 from deep. The Ducks shot 43.9 percent and 3-of-9 on 3s. Oregon had a 25-19 advantage on the boards but committed seven turnovers to only two for Stanford. Parrish and Endyia Rogers led the halftime scoring with ten points each.
Stanford continued to miss shots they normally make as the third quarter progressed but stayed in the game with their aggressive defense. They got within six points (43-37) on a basket after an offensive rebound by 6-4 Cameron Brink (8 points). Paopao connected on two mid-range jumpers to give the Ducks a 7-point lead but an and-one 3-point play from Anna Wilson cut the lead to 47-43. A corner three from Agnes Emma-Nnopu reduced Oregon’s lead to 47-46 at the close of the quarter.
The Ducks got the crowd going early in the final stanza with three-pointers from Parrish and Paopao to take a seven-point lead. Another three-pointer from Paopao stretched the lead to 56-46. Stanford wasn’t done, going on an 11-2 run, helped by seven points from Jones, to tie the game at 60. Jones then made an acrobatic floater, was fouled and completed the three-point play to put the Cardinal up 63-60. Nyara Sabally (8 points, 7 rebounds) then made two free throws to cut the lead to 63-62. At that point Oregon was forced to foul. After two free throws by Lexie Hull (9 points), Rogers missed a runner and the Cardinal closed out the win with one last free throw.
Parrish (13 points) and Rogers (10 points) scored in double-figures for Oregon while Iriafen scored 11 points for Stanford. The Cardinal shot 35.4 percent but only 3-of-16 from deep. The Ducks ended the game shooting 38.3 percent and 7-of-17 on 3s, The main statistical difference was Stanford forcing Oregon into 16 turnovers while committing only eight.
Oregon (18-9, 10-5) will finish the regular season with a trip to face the Washington schools.
This article was written by Carl Berman, Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Facebook, or on twitter.
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