Friday, February 2
Eugene, Ore.
8:00 PM
University of Oregon
21-3, 10-1P12
91
vs
54
California
15-7, 6-5P12
1
2
3
4
F
California
11
18
13
12
54
Oregon
16
30
26
19
91
Photo by: Samuel Marshall/Eric Evans Photography
No. 6 Ducks Wallop No. 24 Cal, 91-54
02/02/18 | Women's Basketball
Oregon shot 51.5 percent and limited the Golden Bears to 38.2 percent shooting in a dominant performance against a ranked opponent.
EUGENE, Ore. — Kicking off a weekend of games against top-25 opponents from the Bay Area, the No. 6 Oregon women's basketball team made an emphatic statement Friday night, walloping No. 24 California 91-54 in front of 3,670 fans in Matthew Knight Arena.
Sophomores Ruthy Hebard and Sabrina Ionescu continued to lead the way, each recording a double-double, and Hebard led a sterling defensive effort against Cal all-America candidate Kristine Anigwe. "I'm really pleased," UO coach Kelly Graves said. "I thought we played a great game tonight, at both ends of the floor. I loved our energy, our focus, our intensity, really for all 40 minutes."
The 37-point margin was Oregon's largest in a conference game since 2002, and the program's sixth-largest ever in Pac-10/12 play.
How It Happened: The Ducks (21-3, 10-1 Pac-12) spent the opening few minutes of the game adjusting to Cal's length and activity on defense. The Golden Bears got their bigs involved pressuring Oregon out on the perimeter, but when Maite Cazorla found Mallory McGwire on a pick-and-roll to tie the game at 7-7, it became apparent the Ducks had adjusted. Ionescu hit a three-pointer for a 10-9 lead two possessions later, and the UO women led the rest of the way. The first quarter closed with a beautiful sequence of passes from Oti Gildon to Ionescu to Hebard, who scored just before the buzzer for a 16-10 lead.
Having drawn Cal's attention to the post, the Ducks went outside to blow the game open in the second quarter. Ionescu opened the period with a three-pointer, and freshman wing Anneli Maley hit another on the next trip for a 22-14 lead. Later in the quarter, Cazorla and Satou Sabally hit three on back-to-back possessions for a 34-23 lead, and McGwire finished a reverse layup on Oregon's penultimate possession of the quarter as the Ducks took a 46-29 lead into halftime.
Cal (15-7, 6-5) scored on its first three possessions after the break to stay within 48-35. But with Ionescu leading the way, Oregon scored on 11 of its next 12 possessions to go on a 24-6 run and lead 72-41. The run included two more three-pointers by Maley, who matched her career-high with nine points. The Ducks held Cal to .267 shooting in the quarter, 4-of-15. "I think we've noticed," Ionescu said, "that if we play very good defense for 40 minutes, we're going to be hard to beat."
Ionescu scored or assisted on 16 of Oregon's last 18 points in the third quarter, and then did so on 11 straight to open the fourth. She went to the bench after driving to the hoop and giving the Ducks an 83-46 lead midway through the quarter, and though Graves pulled his starters for the final few minutes, they had maintained that 37-point edge by game's end. "We got contributions tonight from a lot of different players," Graves said. "And that's what makes us really hard to guard."
Who Stood Out: Ionescu scored 28 points on 9-of-13 shooting and dished out 11 assists, while also pulling down five rebounds. Hebard had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and helped the Ducks limit Anigwe to six points, 11 off her average. Maley and McGwire added nine points each, and McGwire tied her career-high with three blocks. Sabally scored 10 and Cazorla added six assists.
The big second-half lead allowed Graves to play only one player more than 32 minutes — Ionescu at 35 — and nine different players scored. "It's hard not to thrive in an environment where everyone is so supportive and everyone helps each other," Maley said.
What It Means: The Ducks made an emphatic statement against one of the Pac-12's top teams over the last decade, and set the stage for a monumental battle for first place in the conference against Stanford on Sunday.
Up Next: The Ducks host the No. 25 Cardinal in Matthew Knight Arena on Sunday (noon, ESPN2).
Sophomores Ruthy Hebard and Sabrina Ionescu continued to lead the way, each recording a double-double, and Hebard led a sterling defensive effort against Cal all-America candidate Kristine Anigwe. "I'm really pleased," UO coach Kelly Graves said. "I thought we played a great game tonight, at both ends of the floor. I loved our energy, our focus, our intensity, really for all 40 minutes."
The 37-point margin was Oregon's largest in a conference game since 2002, and the program's sixth-largest ever in Pac-10/12 play.
How It Happened: The Ducks (21-3, 10-1 Pac-12) spent the opening few minutes of the game adjusting to Cal's length and activity on defense. The Golden Bears got their bigs involved pressuring Oregon out on the perimeter, but when Maite Cazorla found Mallory McGwire on a pick-and-roll to tie the game at 7-7, it became apparent the Ducks had adjusted. Ionescu hit a three-pointer for a 10-9 lead two possessions later, and the UO women led the rest of the way. The first quarter closed with a beautiful sequence of passes from Oti Gildon to Ionescu to Hebard, who scored just before the buzzer for a 16-10 lead.
Having drawn Cal's attention to the post, the Ducks went outside to blow the game open in the second quarter. Ionescu opened the period with a three-pointer, and freshman wing Anneli Maley hit another on the next trip for a 22-14 lead. Later in the quarter, Cazorla and Satou Sabally hit three on back-to-back possessions for a 34-23 lead, and McGwire finished a reverse layup on Oregon's penultimate possession of the quarter as the Ducks took a 46-29 lead into halftime.
Cal (15-7, 6-5) scored on its first three possessions after the break to stay within 48-35. But with Ionescu leading the way, Oregon scored on 11 of its next 12 possessions to go on a 24-6 run and lead 72-41. The run included two more three-pointers by Maley, who matched her career-high with nine points. The Ducks held Cal to .267 shooting in the quarter, 4-of-15. "I think we've noticed," Ionescu said, "that if we play very good defense for 40 minutes, we're going to be hard to beat."
Ionescu scored or assisted on 16 of Oregon's last 18 points in the third quarter, and then did so on 11 straight to open the fourth. She went to the bench after driving to the hoop and giving the Ducks an 83-46 lead midway through the quarter, and though Graves pulled his starters for the final few minutes, they had maintained that 37-point edge by game's end. "We got contributions tonight from a lot of different players," Graves said. "And that's what makes us really hard to guard."
Who Stood Out: Ionescu scored 28 points on 9-of-13 shooting and dished out 11 assists, while also pulling down five rebounds. Hebard had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and helped the Ducks limit Anigwe to six points, 11 off her average. Maley and McGwire added nine points each, and McGwire tied her career-high with three blocks. Sabally scored 10 and Cazorla added six assists.
The big second-half lead allowed Graves to play only one player more than 32 minutes — Ionescu at 35 — and nine different players scored. "It's hard not to thrive in an environment where everyone is so supportive and everyone helps each other," Maley said.
What It Means: The Ducks made an emphatic statement against one of the Pac-12's top teams over the last decade, and set the stage for a monumental battle for first place in the conference against Stanford on Sunday.
Up Next: The Ducks host the No. 25 Cardinal in Matthew Knight Arena on Sunday (noon, ESPN2).
Team Stats
CAL
ORE
FG%
.382
.515
3FG%
.273
.474
FT%
.692
.700
RB
28
40
TO
13
6
STL
2
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
28
FGM
9
3FGM
4
FTM
6
Pts
18
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballKelly Graves | Selection Sunday
Monday, March 17
Deja Kelly, Peyton Scott & Phillipina Kyei | Selection Sunday
Monday, March 17
Peyton Scott & Ari Long: "A good, competitive basketball game."
Thursday, February 27
Kelly Graves: "We've played really well."
Thursday, February 27
