Wednesday, November 13
Eugene, OR
6:00 PM
University of Oregon
2-0,0-0Pac-12
109
vs
52
Utah State
1-2,0-0Mountain West
1
2
3
4
F
Utah St.
10
16
18
8
52
Oregon
25
27
26
31
109
Photo by: @EricEvansPhoto
Milestone Night As Ducks Beat Utah State
11/13/19 | Women's Basketball
Sabrina Ionescu and Ruthy Hebard reached career milestones and sophomore Taylor Chavez set a career-high in scoring as Oregon beat Utah State on Wednesday.
EUGENE, Ore. — A night of milestones at Matthew Knight Arena almost had one more Wednesday, as Sabrina Ionescu finished a rebound shy of her 19th career triple-double in the top-ranked Oregon women's basketball team's 109-52 victory over Utah State.
Ionescu did manage to become the fourth UO women's player with 2,000 career points, and Ruthy Hebard had her 41st career double-double on the way to becoming the fourth player in program history with 1,000 career rebounds. The Ducks (2-0) also got a career-high 25 points from Taylor Chavez, who has replaced Satou Sabally in the starting lineup while Sabally is gone this week playing with the German National Team.
Chavez, whose freshman season was cut short by injury, also started Oregon's opener Monday but had just four points. She rebounded Wednesday by making 6-of-9 three-point attempts.
"She's a good player," UO coach Kelly Graves said. "I harken back to last year, and things could have ended differently if Taylor was healthy. She's a really good player and competitor."
How It Happened: Coming of a 9-of-35 three-point shooting performance in Monday's opener, the Ducks set a different tone from the outset Monday. Minyon Moore hit a three-pointer on the opening possession, and Chavez made her first of the game moments later for a 13-2 lead. An Erin Boley three-pointer bumped Oregon's lead up to 18-6, and another by freshman Holly Winterburn late in the quarter helped the Ducks lead 25-10 after one period.
Freshman Jaz Shelley sunk yet another three-pointer to open scoring in the second, and Hebard hit a baby hook for a 32-14 lead. Shelley and Ionescu had three-pointers just before halftime, and the Ducks led 52-26 at the break. Shelley was on her way to 15 points, after shooting 2-of-9 in her UO debut Monday.
"I've never been exposed to this many people playing before," Shelley said. "The first couple of games (including Saturday's exhibition against Team USA) I was nervous, but tonight I came out and was a little more confident."
Oregon continued to cruise after halftime but got an injury scare that brought Matthew Knight Arena to a standstill. Following back-to-back three-pointers by Chavez that made it 65-34, Ionescu banged into a Utah State player and went to the floor clutching her leg. After a few fraught moments, she was helped to her feet, and she even tried to stay in the game, thinking she had free throws coming due to a foul. It was a non-shooting situation, so Ionescu had to leave the floor, but she returned to start the fourth quarter.
At that point the only question was whether Ionescu would get her triple-double. She reached 10 assists first, and scored on back-to-back possessions for a 95-48 lead to hit double figures in points. She want to the bench with 1:58 left in the game, though she would have preferred to finish it out.
"Every time Sab comes out of the game, she grumbles," Graves said with a chuckle. "Then she stands in my line of vision at all times, to get back in. That's just how she is. And thank God she's like that."
Who Stood Out: Chavez was 9-of-13 shooting overall for her 25 points, and Hebard added 19 points with 15 rebounds. Ionescu ended up with 16 points, nine rebounds and 12 assists, and Shelley had 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Boley added nine points with five rebounds, Moore had nine points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists and freshman Lucy Cochrane blocked three shots late in the game.
What It Means: The Ducks wanted to clean up their turnovers and shoot the three better Wednesday, and accomplished both. They were so efficient with the ball that they ended up with 31 assists on 39 field goals. "That's the way we play the game, and I love that," Graves said. "I think that's beautiful basketball."
Notable: Ionescu joined Alison Lang (1980-84), Jillian Alleyne (2012-16) and Bev Smith (1978-82) as 2,000-point scorers for the Ducks. Lang is the UO career record-holder at 2,252 points. … Alleyne holds the UO career record with 1,712 rebounds. Smith is second with 1,362, Lang is third with 1,151 and Hebard is fourth with 1,009.
Up Next: The Ducks close out their season-opening three-game homestand by hosting Texas Southern on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Ionescu did manage to become the fourth UO women's player with 2,000 career points, and Ruthy Hebard had her 41st career double-double on the way to becoming the fourth player in program history with 1,000 career rebounds. The Ducks (2-0) also got a career-high 25 points from Taylor Chavez, who has replaced Satou Sabally in the starting lineup while Sabally is gone this week playing with the German National Team.
Chavez, whose freshman season was cut short by injury, also started Oregon's opener Monday but had just four points. She rebounded Wednesday by making 6-of-9 three-point attempts.
"She's a good player," UO coach Kelly Graves said. "I harken back to last year, and things could have ended differently if Taylor was healthy. She's a really good player and competitor."
How It Happened: Coming of a 9-of-35 three-point shooting performance in Monday's opener, the Ducks set a different tone from the outset Monday. Minyon Moore hit a three-pointer on the opening possession, and Chavez made her first of the game moments later for a 13-2 lead. An Erin Boley three-pointer bumped Oregon's lead up to 18-6, and another by freshman Holly Winterburn late in the quarter helped the Ducks lead 25-10 after one period.
Freshman Jaz Shelley sunk yet another three-pointer to open scoring in the second, and Hebard hit a baby hook for a 32-14 lead. Shelley and Ionescu had three-pointers just before halftime, and the Ducks led 52-26 at the break. Shelley was on her way to 15 points, after shooting 2-of-9 in her UO debut Monday.
"I've never been exposed to this many people playing before," Shelley said. "The first couple of games (including Saturday's exhibition against Team USA) I was nervous, but tonight I came out and was a little more confident."
Oregon continued to cruise after halftime but got an injury scare that brought Matthew Knight Arena to a standstill. Following back-to-back three-pointers by Chavez that made it 65-34, Ionescu banged into a Utah State player and went to the floor clutching her leg. After a few fraught moments, she was helped to her feet, and she even tried to stay in the game, thinking she had free throws coming due to a foul. It was a non-shooting situation, so Ionescu had to leave the floor, but she returned to start the fourth quarter.
At that point the only question was whether Ionescu would get her triple-double. She reached 10 assists first, and scored on back-to-back possessions for a 95-48 lead to hit double figures in points. She want to the bench with 1:58 left in the game, though she would have preferred to finish it out.
"Every time Sab comes out of the game, she grumbles," Graves said with a chuckle. "Then she stands in my line of vision at all times, to get back in. That's just how she is. And thank God she's like that."
Who Stood Out: Chavez was 9-of-13 shooting overall for her 25 points, and Hebard added 19 points with 15 rebounds. Ionescu ended up with 16 points, nine rebounds and 12 assists, and Shelley had 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Boley added nine points with five rebounds, Moore had nine points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists and freshman Lucy Cochrane blocked three shots late in the game.
What It Means: The Ducks wanted to clean up their turnovers and shoot the three better Wednesday, and accomplished both. They were so efficient with the ball that they ended up with 31 assists on 39 field goals. "That's the way we play the game, and I love that," Graves said. "I think that's beautiful basketball."
Notable: Ionescu joined Alison Lang (1980-84), Jillian Alleyne (2012-16) and Bev Smith (1978-82) as 2,000-point scorers for the Ducks. Lang is the UO career record-holder at 2,252 points. … Alleyne holds the UO career record with 1,712 rebounds. Smith is second with 1,362, Lang is third with 1,151 and Hebard is fourth with 1,009.
Up Next: The Ducks close out their season-opening three-game homestand by hosting Texas Southern on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Team Stats
USU
Oregon
FG%
.302
.565
3FG%
.250
.531
FT%
.714
1.000
RB
28
45
TO
13
10
STL
1
9
Game Leaders
Pts
25
FGM
9
3FGM
6
FTM
1
Pts
19
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
16
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
G
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