University of Oregon
19-6, 8-6P12
Colorado
6-19, 1-13P12
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado | 18 | 13 | 20 | 19 | 70 |
| Oregon | 9 | 20 | 34 | 14 | 77 |
02/15/16 | Women's Basketball
EUGENE, Ore. – The Oregon women's basketball team came up with its fifth-straight victory Sunday afternoon, downing Colorado 77-70 at Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks (19-6, 8-6 Pac-12) have now won eight of their last nine games and five straight.
Oregon's five straight wins in conference play is its longest Pac-12 winning streak since claiming six straight league wins in 1999-2000, when the Ducks won the Pac-10 title.
How It Happened: Both teams struggled out of the gate offensively, combining to start with a 2-of-14 mark from the field. Freshman Maite Cazorla rattled off seven straight for the Ducks after Colorado scored the game's first four points, but the Buffaloes ended the quarter on a 14-2 run to lead 18-9. Oregon shot 2-of-13 in the first 10 minutes, with Cazorla scoring eight of the Ducks' first nine points.
Oregon's shooting woes continued into the early part of the second quarter as the Ducks missed their first five tries from the field. Trailing 27-13, a Kat Cooper three-pointer with 4:35 left to play in the half took the lid off the basket for Oregon, spurring a 12-0 run and a 5-of-5 finish to the half from the floor. With seconds left on the clock, Jillian Alleyne tapped in a Cazorla inbounds pass to cut the Colorado lead to 31-29 heading into the locker room.
With the game tied at 45 and just over four minutes left in the third quarter, a Cooper triple sparked another Oregon run. The Ducks ran off 11-straight points and managed to outscore the Buffaloes 18-6 over the final four-plus minutes of the third quarter to lead Colorado 63-51.
The Ducks took a 15-point lead, their largest of the game with four-an-a-half minutes to go in the final frame. Oregon withstood a 10-2 Colorado run late in the fourth quarter, as Cazorla hit a pair of free throws with under a minute left to put the Ducks up 11 and ice the team's fifth-straight victory.
Who Stood Out: Cazorla and Cooper each tied their career highs in scoring. Cazorla finished with 23 points, along with five assists and three rebounds. Cooper drilled five three-pointers on her way to scoring 18 points. Alleyne finished a point off her season high with 26 points, also collecting 17 points to notch her 90th career double-double and add to her school record.
Quotable – Head Coach Kelly Graves:
On the win over Colorado…
“This was a really hard-fought game. We certainly weren't at our best today, but I give a lot of credit to Colorado. They came in with nothing to lose, they played harder than we did and they played more physically than we did, especially in that first quarter. At the end of the second quarter, we at least got back into the game, I still don't really know how. Then, the second half we went on a couple of really nice runs to separate ourselves… All in all its one of those games that we are happy we won.”
Notes and Numbers: With the win today, the Ducks tie Washington for fifth place in the Pac-12 standings … Oregon gathered 19 offensive rebounds in the win, a new season high … The Ducks went 24-of-37 from the line Sunday, season highs in both makes and attempts.
Up Next: Oregon wraps up its 2016 home schedule next weekend when they host USC and UCLA at Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks open the weekend with UCLA on Friday at 6 p.m.
