Eugene, OR – A sold-out Matthew Knight Arena crowd of 12,364 greeted the Civil War match-up between the No. 3-ranked Oregon Ducks and the No. 9-ranked Oregon State Beavers women’s programs. It was the second women’s sell-out in the history of the arena, The Ducks, undefeated in the Pac-12 conference and playing as well as anyone in the country at this point, looked to extend their nation-leading 16-game winning streak. Oregon led throughout the closely contested game gradually increasing their separation from the Beavers and ultimately prevailing 77-68. It was Oregon’s 13th straight conference win and effectively sealed the conference title.
Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu was the games’ leading scorer with 29 points and added nine assists and five rebounds. Ruthy Hebard was active throughout and added 21 points, 11 rebounds and four assists while Satou Sabally added 18 points. The trio scored all but nine of Oregon’s 77 points while the Ducks’ bench played a combined 14 minutes.
Oregon State was never able to get closer than four points in the final quarter. They did cut the lead to five points with 1:52 remaining but two baskets from Oregon’s Ionescu sealed the game. Destiny Slocum led the Beavers with 19 points. Oregon had only three turnovers in the game and forced Oregon State into 14 turnovers including three shot clock violations.
The first half started with the Ducks maintaining a single-digit lead. They led after the first quarter 18-13 with Ionescu, Sabally and Hebard each scoring six points. Sabally connected on both her three-point attempts and Hebard had three buckets from getting deep position in the paint on the Beaver bigs. Oregon State stayed close and took the lead 28-27 on a Tara Corosdale three-pointer. Then the Ducks scored ten straight points helped by two steals and subsequent three-pointers from Ionescu and Sabally to take a 37-30 lead. The Beavers held close and cut the Oregon lead to 39-35 at the half on a Aleah Goodman lay-in.
Both teams played efficiently offensively in the half with the Beavers shooting 54 percent and the Ducks 48 percent. Oregon State was 5-of-12 on three-pointers while Oregon was 5-of-10. The difference was Oregon’s forcing the Beavers into six turnovers while only committing two of their own. Ionescu was the game’s leading scorer at the break with 13 points and added seven assists. Sabally contributed 11 points and Hebard was active with eight points and seven rebounds. Goodman led the Beavers with ten points and connected on two three-pointers.
The teams both played strong defense at the start of the third quarter with the Beavers forced into two straight shot clock violations and the Ducks being forced into tough shots, starting the quarter 2-of-7 from the field. That changed when a Hebard and-one three-point play and an Ionescu three-pointer gave the Ducks a 49-40 lead. It was a well defended third quarter overall by both teams with Oregon held to 6-of-17 shooting and the Beavers playing well into the shot clock, unable to find space against the Duck defense. Oregon took a ten-point lead (56-46) at the end of the quarter helped by two late Ionescu three-pointers. Hebard (nine points) and Ionescu (eight points) were the only Oregon players to score in the period.
The Civil War continues on Monday evening in Corvallis where the Beavers will try to hand the Ducks there first conference loss before a likely sold-out Gill Coliseum
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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