University of Oregon
18-6, 7-6P12
Utah
14-10, 6-7P12
Alleyne Leads Ducks to Fourth Straight
02/13/16 | Women's Basketball
EUGENE – The Oregon women's basketball team picked up its fourth-straight win on Friday night with a 69-58 win over Utah at Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks (18-6, 7-6 Pac-12) are now winners of seven of their last eight, with all seven wins coming by double digits.
With 27 points and 13 rebounds, Jillian Alleyne recorded her 89th career double-double, surpassing Bev Smith's career record to become Oregon's all-time leader.
How It Happened: After Alleyne and Utah's Emily Potter traded buckets early to tie the score up at four points each, Utah scored on three of its next four possessions to take an early 10-4 lead. The Ducks would respond with a 7-0 run, capped by a Lexi Bando triple from the wing, to take their first lead of the game midway through the first quarter. Both teams shot 50 percent from the floor in the first period, as the Utes led 18-15 after the game's opening 10 minutes.
Trailing 20-19 in the second quarter, Lexi Petersen drained a three from the far corner that proved to be a spark for the Ducks. Oregon outscored Utah 16-4 over the final six minutes of the half to take a 35-24 lead into the locker room.
The Ducks hit 4-of-7 from downtown in the second quarter, thanks to treys from Petersen, Bando and freshman Maite Cazorla, to outscore the Utes 20-6 in the period. Bando led the Ducks in the opening half, going 3-of-5 from three-point range on her way to 11 first-half points.
The Utes went on an 8-2 run to open the second half and cut the Oregon lead to five. With the two squads going shot-for-shot for much of the half, Alleyne scored eight of Oregon's 14 points in the quarter to hold off the Utes as the Ducks held on to a 49-43 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
After Utah made it 61-57 with four minutes to play, Petersen came up with a big answer, pulling up and hitting from three to spark a quick six unanswered and pull the Ducks' cushion back to double digits. It was Alleyne that hit the dagger, leaping over a host of defenders to tip in Cazorla's inbounds pass from just outside the restricted area. Alleyne's jumper finished off an 8-1 Oregon run to seal the 69-58 victory over the Utes.
Who Stood Out: Alleyne tallied 27 points and 13 rebounds for her school record 89th-career double-double to lead the Ducks over the Utes. Bando finished with 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting from long range. After being held scoreless in the Ducks' first meeting with Utah, Cazorla added nine points and dished off four assists to help Oregon win its fourth straight.
Season Sweep: The Ducks completed a season sweep of the Utes, winning Friday to follow up a 77-65 triumph in Salt Lake City in January.
Quotable – Head Coach Kelly Graves:
On closing this game out after struggling to do so early in Pac-12 play…
“Well, we kept our composure, number one. We got the ball in the hands in our better ball handlers and we got fouled. I think that's so distant, you know it was a couple of games early, but the reality is we've won seven out of eight. So that's so long ago that we didn't close out some games, I think we've been doing great since.”
On moving above .500 in conference play…
“We tried to talk to the team about, you know, this is fun; this is what you play for, to have a chance down the stretch in big games like this. Our players have never played in a big game in February, really, a meaningful game. So I think they're having some fun with it, and it's great.”
“It'll feel good until about 10 o'clock when I get home, and then we'll worry about Colorado. I mean, seriously, this time of year you don't enjoy them too long cause you've got to go to what's next, and we've got another game on Saturday.”
Up Next: The Ducks will return to Matthew Knight Arena on Sunday afternoon to host Colorado at 4 p.m.
