EUGENE, Ore.
? As Oregon balanced an even conference record entering today's game, junior
guard Tamika Nurse calmly drilled two free throws with 6.7 seconds left on the
clock, giving the Ducks a 66-64 victory over Washington on Saturday afternoon
at Mac Court.
The Ducks' defense sealed the deal, as freshman Nia Jackson
hounded Washington guard Emily
Florence down the floor on the Huskies' last attempt, forcing an errant pass
picked off by Taylor Lilley and ending the game.
Oregon is now
in a three-way tie with USC and UCLA for fourth place in the Pacific-10
Conference. All three teams have 4-3 records. Overall, the Ducks improve to
10-8 on the year.
Washington
falls to 7-12 overall, and 2-5 in the Pac-10.
Oregon's win
marked the first time the Ducks have completed a weekend conference sweep this
season, and the first time since 2006, Oregon
swept the two Washington schools.
The Ducks knocked off Washington State, 64-45, on Thursday night.
Nurse produced arguably her best game of the year, with a
season-high 17 points on 5-of-12 shooting. She was perfect 6-for-6 from the
free-throw line, and set a new career high with eight rebounds, as well as
matching her season high of six assists.
“Tamika scoring 17 was huge for us,” head coach Bev Smith
said. “That takes the pressure off of other players. We feel very confident
with her at the line. I liked the way she played today. She was very relaxed.
She had an easy demeanor, and her leadership is very important.”
Lilley led Oregon
on the scoreboard with 20 points, including four three-pointers.
Washington's
Michelle Augustavo guided the Huskies with 18 points, shooting 6-of-10 from
beyond the arc. Washington as a
team shot just 38.1 percent from the floor, but from three-point range was
9-of-20 (45.0 percent).
Andrea Plouffe added 14 points, and Katelan Redmon 10 for
the Huskies.
Oregon began
to run the floor with authority late in the second half, and tied the game at
50-50 on Lilley's fourth triple, with 8:53
remaining. The Ducks led by as many as seven, 61-54, but Augustavo hit her
sixth three-pointer, to cut Oregon's
lead to 61-57.
“The game is about runs,” Washington
head coach Tia Jackson said. “A lot is created by defense. I though Oregon
played a phenomenal game, and I thought our ladies played a great game.”
Trailing by three late, Husky senior Emily Florence sank a
pull-up jumper and was fouled. She completed the three-point play at the line,
and tied the game at 64-64 with 2:01
remaining.
“It was fun to play in this type of atmosphere today,” Nurse
said. “Our fans were really loud. Everyone was just kind of in the moment.”
Washington
opened the half on an 11-3, but Oregon
answered quickly with a 9-0 streak of its own, cutting Washington's
lead to 40-39 with 13:52 to go.
Washington had
a 29-28 lead at the break, led by Augusatvo's 12 first-half points on a 4-of-5
performance from beyond the arc.
The Huskies led by as many as 10 during the first 20 minutes,
but the Ducks ended the half on a 17-9 run to get back into the game.
Micaela Cocks, who was 0-for-5 from three-point range on
Thursday night, got Oregon on the scoreboard first with a three-pointer, part
of the Ducks, 8-0 run to open the game.
Washington then
composed an 8-0 run of its own, with Augustavo's trey tying the game at the 14:55 mark in the first half.
Nurse broke that deadlock with her first bucket of the game,
a baseline basket from outside the arc. But that was Oregon's
only field goal, part of a 20-3 Washington
run that gave the Huskies a 20-11 advantage with 8:24
remaining.
Jackson finally
broke what was a scoring drought that lasted 5:45
for Oregon, when she stripped Sami
Whitcomb at midcourt and finished the breakaway layup at the 8:02 mark, cutting the Huskies' lead to 20-13.
Lilley and Nurse led Oregon
offensively in the first half, scoring 10 and nine points, respectively.
The Ducks now hit the road for the next two weeks. Oregon
plays UCLA at 7 p.m. on Thursday
night, and follows that up with USC at 2 p.m.
on Saturday, a game scheduled to be televised by OSN.
The Ducks will then travel to Arizona,
before coming back to Mac Court
to host Stanford on Thursday, Feb. 7 (7 p.m.)
and Cal on Saturday, Feb. 9 (1 p.m.).
The game against the Bears will be broadcast on FSN and will host “Think Pink”
to bring awareness to the issue of breast cancer.
QUICK QUACKS: Ellyce Ironmonger was unavailable in the
second half after spraining her right knee...she will be evaluated day-to-day...the
crowd of 3,046 was the largest Pac-10 crowd at Mac Court this year...freshman Victoria
Kenyon set a new season high with six rebounds.
