University of Oregon
USC
Ducks Drop 77-72 Decision to USC
01/02/05 | Women's Basketball
LOS ANGELES ? The University of Oregon women's basketball team fell behind early and hung around the rest of the way, but couldn't regain its early lead Sunday as the Ducks lost 77-72 to USC at the Sports Arena.
Oregon suffered its first conference lost and fell to 9-3 and 2-1. The Women of Troy improved to 7-4 and 1-1.
It was the most points the Ducks have given up this season while USC tied its season-best for points.
"We didn't play defense," said Oregon junior guard Chelsea Wagner, who scored a game-high 21 points. "We have to bring it defensively every day. We didn't have any urgency whatsoever. We're going to have to figure that out."
Oregon led 28-26 in the first half with 3:43 left after a Gabrielle Richards jumper ? the Ducks' last lead of the game. USC went on an 11-2 run to close the half, five of the points coming off of two Duck turnovers. Oregon had 14 first-half turnovers and 20 for the game.
"Our offense wasn't pretty," Oregon coach Bev Smith said. "We turned the ball over and missed some easy shots. To USC's credit, they shot the ball well and hit some tough shots."
USC had an answer for Oregon at every turn, even as the Ducks came back from a 70-59 deficit with 3:21 left to cut it to 76-72 with 19 seconds on the clock.
"It's a long season and those two wins last week (over California and Stanford) were really important," Smith said. "We felt good about coming down here, but we just came out flat."
Wagner scored 14 of her 21 points in the second half and tied a career-high for the eighth time with five 3-pointers on 11 attempts. Senior center Andrea Bills added a season-high 19 points for Oregon on 9-of-15 shooting to go with seven rebounds. Cathrine Kraayeveld notched her third double-double of the season with 13 points and 18 rebounds, but she missed all five of her 3-point attempts.
Jamie Hagiya led USC with 14 points and five assists off the bench while Camille Lenoir added 10. The Women of Troy were hot from 3-point territory, making 7-of-14. The Ducks struggled from there, making just 6-of-21 and also connecting on just 8-of-16 from the foul line.
"We let them have too many open shots," Kraayeveld said. "They're a good shooting team and they're going to hit them when they're open."
USC's reserves outscored Oregon's 37-13
Despite the loss, Oregon dominated the boards 44-28. Kraayeveld's rebound total gave her 633 for her career, which moves her into ninth place all-time at Oregon.
The Ducks next play at No. 23-ranked UCLA (8-3, 2-0) on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
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