EUGENE, Ore. ? For a second straight night, the University of Oregon women's basketball team was a defensive force. Unfortunately for the Ducks, so was No. 21 Temple, which held a slim edge offensively to earn a 51-46 victory in the championship game of the Women's Sports Foundation Classic in front of 3,534 at McArthur Court.
Oregon (1-1) came so close to the victory, leading 46-43 with 2:36 to play. But the Owls (2-0) went into lockdown mode and scored eight unanswered points before the final horn.
“We needed to play in this environment to prepare us for the NCAA tournament,” said Temple head coach and three-time Olympic Gold Medalist Dawn Staley. “Watching film, it's frightening coming here. We knew coach (Bev) Smith has intensity and never gives up.”
Down 49-46 with less than 30 seconds to play, senior guard Chelsea Wagner narrowly missed a three-pointer that would have tied the score. The shot looked good upon release, but rattled out.
“Down the stretch, we had a lot of opportunities, we just had some bad luck” Smith said. “Chelsea got a good shot up in traffic; it just wasn't as clean of a look as we would have liked to have had.”
The early season game, which had a conference-like atmosphere, featured a battle of the titans on the inside between Oregon sophomore center Gabrielle Richards and tournament MVP Candice Dupree of Temple.
Dupree had game-highs of 21 points and 15 rebounds, and Richards notched career bests of 20 points and 12 boards. The only thing separating the Ducks' star post from MVP honors was the final score.
“If you can keep Gabrielle Richards to the outside, it's easier to play her,” Dupree said, noting Temple's difficulty in preventing Richards from operating on the low block.
Said Smith of Dupree: “She's an All-American talent, and I think she deserves that sort of consideration this year.”
Outside of Richards, Oregon's next leading scorer was senior guard Brandi Davis, who had eight points. Junior forward Eleanor Haring, who joined Richards on the All-Tournament team, finished with six points.
“We have a team used to being role players, who haven't been in this situation before and we have to work on being prepared for it,” Smith said.
Temple forward Kamesha Hariston scored 14 points and had three steals on her way to All-Tourney honors.
The two teams traded leads in the first half with the Ducks emerging with an eventual 25-22 edge. Both teams had trouble converting from the field with Temple shooting 26.9 percent (7-of-26) and Oregon 34.6 (9-of-26).
Dupree led all scorers in the half with 11 points. Richards countered with eight points and seven boards for the Ducks.
The Ducks opened the game with a defensive stand followed by a three-pointer from Haring, which got the Mac Court crowd into the game early.
Oregon led 7-4 before back-to-back field goals from Women's Wooden Award candidate Dupree, which gave the Owls their first lead. That was the beginning of an 8-0 run for Temple, extending the Owls' lead to 12-7.
UO countered with a 9-4 spurt of its own, regaining the advantage at 17-16 with 9:57 to play on a pair of free throws by Richards. Temple's last lead in the half was at 20-19 with 3:41 remaining.
Next up for Oregon will be a home contest against Nevada on Sunday, Nov. 20.
TOURNAMENT MVP
Candice Dupree, Temple
ALL-TOURAMENT TEAM
Gabrielle Richards, Oregon
Eleanor Haring, Oregon
Kamesha Hairston, Temple
Stephany Skrba, Michigan
Amber Hein, St. Francis
QUACK TRACKS: In the consolation game, Michigan defeated St. Francis, 80-52... Oregon won the last Women's Sports Foundation Classic hosted at McArthur Court, defeating Valparaiso and No. 9 LSU, respectively, November 15-16, 2003... JR F Jessie Shetters had a career-high nine rebounds... The Ducks have three more home games remaining in November, giving them a total of five contests at Mac Court during the month. They don't play on campus during the entire month of December.
