Eugene, OR – The No. 3-ranked Oregon women tried to atone for their lone Pac-12 conference loss as they faced the No. 19 Arizona State Sun Devils this afternoon before a capacity crowd of 12,364 at Matthew Knight Arena. Coming into the game on a nine-game winning streak, including five wins against ranked opponents, the Ducks didn’t disappoint. They easily took care of the Sun Devils, running away with a 79-48 win as Sabrina Ionescu scored 19 points with seven rebounds and five assists to lead the winners.
Arizona State consistently ranks among the top defensive teams in the nation. Last season the Sun Devils led the Pac-12 in scoring defense (58.2 ppg) and this year is no exception. They are once again leading the conference in defense (57.2 ppg) and held the Ducks to 66 points in their first meeting this season, Oregon’s lowest point output of the season. The game started off at the tempo that Arizona State liked as the game was scoreless for over four minutes before the Sun Devils’ Eboni Walker connected on a jumper. The bad news for Arizona State was that was their only points of the quarter with the Ducks scoring the next ten points to take a 10-2 lead at the quarters’ end. The Sun Devils only made 1-of-10 shots in the quarter and had five turnovers.
The offenses were a bit more effective in the second quarter. Arizona State finally hit a few shots but couldn’t keep up with Ionescu. She scored 13 first half points, connecting on all three of the three-point attempts, including one on which she was fouled. The Ducks led at the half 27-15 with the Sun Devils successful on only five of their 21 field goal attempts, including 1-of-6 from distance.
If there was any doubt Oregon put the game away with a 30-15 edge in the third quarter. Erin Boley (14 points, 4-of-6 3PT) connected on two three-pointers to help the Ducks extend the lead. Frosh Jaz Shelley hit a long three-pointer at the close of the quarter to bring the lead to 27 points (57-30). Oregon coasted from there with the outcome never in doubt. Shelley (14 points) excited the crowd as she was successful on all four of her three-point attempts and on all five of her field goal attempts.
Minyon Moore, although not particularly effective on offense (5 points, 1-of-9 FG), helped out quite a bit on defense, registering six steals and hounding the Sun Devil guards throughout her 23 minutes of play. Satou Sabally had another double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds and hit two fourth quarter three-pointers. The Ducks made 13-of-25 3s (52 percent) for the game. Arizona State was only 4-of-13 from distance and connected on only 10-of-21 free throw attempts.
Oregon (22-2, 11-1) heads to the road the next two weeks, first playing No. 10 UCLA this Friday and USC on Sunday. They then travel to the Bay Area the following week to play Cal and Stanford. Arizona State (16-8, 6-6) goes home 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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