Eugene, OR – The Oregon women (25-3, 13-2), buoyed by the return of center Ruthy Hebard, got back on track after a two-game losing streak beating the USC Trojans (15-12, 5-11) 96-78 in front of 8.232 fans in their final home game this season. Erin Boley led the Ducks with 32 points, connecting on 8-of-11 three-pointers. Sabrina Ionescu notched another triple-double with 13 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists. The triple-double was the 7th for Ionescu this season and 17th for her career, both NCAA records. Hebard was efficient in her limited 16 minutes, scoring 13 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Mariya Moore led the Trojans with 30 points, six rebounds and six assists.
Hebard entered the game midway in the first quarter with the Ducks trailing 15-14 and the feel of the game changed right there. Oregon had a point differential of +18 in Hebard’s 16 minutes of action. USC kept the game relatively close in the first half trailing 40-36 at the break. Oregon then caught fire in the second half and pulled away from the Trojans. The Ducks shot 64 percent from the field in the half including 10-of-13 (76.9 percent) on three-pointers. Boley scored 22 points in the half hitting on 6-of-8 three-pointers. Freshman Taylor Chavez (8 points) came off the bench and connected on her two attempts from distance. Ionescu had nine assists in the second half as the Ducks, with the exception of six turnovers played almost flawless offensively in the half.
USC played well offensively but had no answer for the Ducks defensively. Beside Mariya Moore, Aliyah Mazyck added 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting and point guard Minyon Moore added 11 points to go along with six assists. Satou Sabally was the other Oregon player in double-figures with 12 points and added five rebounds and four assists. The Ducks won the rebounding battle by a wide margin of 39-23, getting eight offensive boards to four for the Trojans.
Oregon will now travel to Arizona for their final two games of the regular season, needing one win to secure the top seed in the Pac-12 tournament. The Ducks are virtually assured of being one of the 16 hosts for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
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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