University of Oregon
UCLA
Ducks Break Bruins, 61-55
01/29/04 | Women's Basketball
LOS ANGELES ? This time, the University of Oregon women's basketball team wouldn't let it slip away. Following two narrow home losses to the Arizona schools last week, the Ducks put the hammer down on UCLA, winning 61-55 Thursday at Pauley Pavilion.
Oregon (11-9, 3-7) snapped a four-game losing streak to the Bruins (9-10, 4-6), whose only previous two losses at home this season were to ranked teams.
“We knew exactly what was going to happen and what we had to do for 40 minutes,” Oregon coach Bev Smith said. “We didn't hang our heads and were aggressive the entire game.”
Chelsea Wagner, playing on a torn lateral meniscus in her left knee for the fourth straight game, scored a team-high 17 points ? 14 of them in the second half. She nailed five 3-pointers for the third game in a row and fourth time this season. The sophomore from Springfield, Ore., also had five rebounds and three steals.
The Ducks trailed just once in the game, 2-0, as their defense shut down UCLA to help them to a 16-6 lead with 9:31 left in the half. Oregon went into halftime with a 29-18 advantage, holding an opponent to its fewest points in any half this season. The Bruins shot a miserable 8-of-32 (25 percent) in the half while Oregon connected on 42 percent. It was the ninth time the Ducks have held an opponent to fewer than 60 points this year.
Oregon also held UCLA leading scorer Nikki Blue to only six points on 3-of-12 shooting. Blue finally got her first basket with 3:50 left in the game. She is a combined 5-of-24 from the floor against Oregon this year.
“We just played really good defense,” said Oregon freshman Eleanor Haring, who had 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting. “It's a confidence-booster for us at this stage. We wanted this one really bad.”
Andrea Bills was Oregon's other double-digit scorer with 13, making 6-of-9 from the field. She also pulled down 11 rebounds for her third double-double this season. She's also scored in double-figures in eight of the last nine games.
Corrie Mizusawa was instrumental in getting Bills the ball, as the junior point guard finished with 10 assists ? the fifth time she's had at least 10 in a game this year. Mizusawa passed Missy Croshaw for 10th place on the all-time single-season list with 132 and needs just six more to move to seventh.
“It's definitely a big win for us,” Mizusawa said. “We're playing really well since the Arizona games last week. We struggled with (UCLA's) press the last game. We did a great job with their press tonight.”
The Ducks held their largest lead of the game, 47-31 on a Wagner 3-pointer, with 13:11 remaining. UCLA could not get to within seven points until a Lisa Willis basket in the final seconds that proved to be the final margin. Willis led all players with 20 points on 8-of-18 shooting to go with four steals. Noelle Quinn added 11 points and 15 rebounds for the Bruins.
Brandi Davis added nine points ? all in the first half ? for the Ducks, making 2-of-5 from long distance to move into sole possession of seventh place on the all-time 3-point list at Oregon with 81. Meanwhile, Davis' free throw streak of 18 ended on an attempt at the 3:58 mark in the first half.
Oregon next takes on USC (10-8, 7-3), which lost Thursday 73-66 to Oregon State, on Saturday at 4 p.m.
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