Eugene, OR – Coming off their first loss of the season to Louisville in the Virgin Islands, the Oregon Duck women returned home to face a solid South Dakota State Jackrabbit team. The Jackrabbits had solid wins this season over Notre Dame and No. 21-ranked South Florida. The teams met last year in Portland in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen where the Dicks won a hard fought 63-53 game.
Today’s contest was never in doubt as the Ducks started strong and rolled to a 95-56 victory in front of 9,560 fans at Matthew Knight Arena for a noon tipoff. Ruthy Hebard led the winners with 22 points, hitting 11-of-15 shots and added five rebounds. Sabrina Ionescu was content setting her teammates up today and didn’t shoot much. The All-American finished with 12 points on 4-of-7 from the field, hitting her only two three-pointers, to go along with 11 assists and seven rebounds. She played a total of 33 minutes and played all 20 minutes in the first half. Tylee Irwin led South Dakota State with 10 points.
Oregon led 23-9 after the first quarter, 45-24 at halftime and coasted to the win from there. South Dakota State’s tallest starter was 6-1 and Oregon’s interior height advantage made it very difficult for the Jackrabbits to finish inside. To make matters worse for the visitors, the Ducks were hitting their three-point shots. They were 8-of-14 by halftime as Erin Boley scored all her 12 points in the half, connecting on 4-of-6 and frosh Holly Winterburn making her two shots from long distance. Their effective three-point shooting was a welcome change from the Ducks’ 6-of-35 long distance performance in the loss to Louisville. Winterburn ended the game 5-of-7 from distance and scored 17 points. The Ducks finished 14-of-24 from distance (65 percent)
Oregon scored rather easily and effectively inside. Beside’s Hebard’s 22 points, 6-6 back-up center Lydia Giomi added eight points on 4-of-4 from the field. Satou Sabally added 16 points and eight rebounds.
Oregon is off this week for finals and returns to the court at Long Beach State on December 14th. South Dakota State (6-4) returns home for a three-game stand that starts on December 11th against Chattanooga.
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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