Ducks Hold Off Scrappy Sun Devils

Friday, January 18

Eugene, OR

6:00 PM

University of Oregon

Arizona State

Arizona St.

Oregon

Photo by: @EricEvansPhoto

01/18/19 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box: Oregon 77, ASU 71

By: Derren Iha

EUGENE, Ore. – After holding a comfortable lead for most of the game, No. 5 Oregon went down to the wire with No. 19 Arizona State, holding on for a 77-71 win Friday in front of 6,769 at Matthew Knight Arena.

Sabrina Ionescu and Maite Cazorla each hit clutch jumpers late after the Sun Devils (12-5, 3-3 Pac-12) got within one, and the Ducks (16-1, 5-0 Pac-12) came up with a few key defensive stops and hit some big free throws to ice it.

BIG-TIME BACKCOURT PLAY: Ionescu turned in her third career 30-point game, finishing with a season-high 31 points on 10-of-20 shooting from the field while going 8-for-9 at the line. She scored 12 points in the fourth quarter, including going a perfect 6-for-6 on free throws. Cazorla had an efficient scoring night, finishing with 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting, including 3-for-5 from behind the arc. She's now 15-for-23 (65.2 percent) from the field in the last three games and is shooting 53.5 percent on the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED: The Ducks got off to a bit of a sluggish start, falling behind 16-10 with 2:45 to go in the first quarter. Oregon responded with a 10-0 run over the final 2:30 of the opening quarter to take a 20-16 lead. Cazorla scored the first five for Oregon on a three-pointer and a layup, before a Ruthy Hebard layup and a three by Ionescu capped off the run.

After an ASU bucket to start the second quarter, Oregon went on an 11-2 run to take a 31-20 lead. The Sun Devils again fought back, cutting it to a six-point Ducks lead as Oregon went scoreless for nearly four minutes before Cazorla hit a three to end the half, making it 38-29.

The two teams traded buckets for much of the third quarter, and the Ducks took a 57-47 lead into the fourth. ASU slowly chipped away at the Oregon lead throughout the fourth, going on a 16-4 run over the next 4:26 to make it a one-point game with 2:56 to play. Ionescu and Cazorla each hit jumpers while the Ducks got some big-time defensive stops, highlighted by a blocked three-point attempt in transition by Satou Sabally. Oregon went 6-for-6 at the line in the final 26 seconds to put it away.

Check out the highlights from tonight's 77-71 win against Arizona State! #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/0G2bxdxqiJ
— Oregon Women's Basketball (@OregonWBB) January 19, 2019

QUOTABLE: Head coach Kelly Graves
"I'm really pleased with the win. I loved our poise down the stretch. Arizona State is never fun to play. I'm proud of our team. We showed some toughness down the stretch. Made some free throws and a couple of stops when we needed it."

Junior guard Sabrina Ionescu
"We knew they were going to come out and fight to the very end. That's what our coach preaches and preached to us at half time. We knew that this was going to be a ball game no matter how much we got up on them. I think we did a great job staying poised and hitting shots that we needed to in order to win this game."

NOTABLE: The Ducks improved to 3-0 against ranked opponents this season ... Oregon is now 27-1 at home over the last two years … Head coach Kelly Graves picked up his 21st win over a top-25 team while at Oregon ... The Ducks have won three in a row against ASU, their longest win streak against the Sun Devils since 2000 ... Oregon is now 10-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field ... Oregon's 77 points are the second-most allowed by ASU this year, the Sun Devils came in with the No. 2 scoring defense in the Pac-12 ... Sabally finished with a team-high seven boards, and has 44 rebounds in UO's five conference contests, averaging 8.8 per game.

UP NEXT: Oregon will host Arizona at 12 p.m. Sunday live on Pac-12 Networks.