Ducks Survive Semifinal Slugfest

Saturday, March 9

Las Vegas, NV

6:00 PM

University of Oregon

28-3

UCLA

20-11

OT 1

UCLA

Oregon

Photo by: @EricEvansPhoto

03/09/19 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box: Oregon 88, UCLA 83 (OT)

Oregon and UCLA engaged in yet another epic duel Saturday, with the Ducks winning 88-83 in overtime to reach Sunday's Pac-12 Tournament final.

By: Rob Moseley

LAS VEGAS — The game-clinching free throws made, the visit to the Pac-12 Networks set for a postgame interview complete, Sabrina Ionescu sat at her locker following Oregon's epic overtime victory Saturday over UCLA in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament and took stock of things.

Her body, after a 45-minute war, was tired. Her stomach, running on empty since the pregame meal, was growling. Her ankle, sore after a second-half slip, was being iced.

Ionescu's eyes were alight, though, energized by the emotions of the 88-83 win over the Bruins, and the prospect of facing Stanford for the tournament championship on Sunday (5 p.m., ESPN2). Aided by a big game from Ruthy Hebard and vital contributions from players up and down the roster, Ionescu had overcome a 4-of-19 shooting night to keep the Ducks on course for the right to host the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament, and play the second weekend in Portland.

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"You're not always going to be at your best," Ionescu said after a 19-point, 12-rebound, six-assist night in which she hit the game-clinching free throws at the end of overtime. "Especially in March when you've played so many games, and you fought so much adversity, and we'd played them three times now.

"And so, you're not always going to be at your best. But it's the teams that can figure out a way to get it done when they're not at their best that are going to succeed."

Two weeks after the Ducks lost to the Bruins at home, in a game Hebard missed with a knee injury, Oregon's "hammer" on offense was a difference-maker Saturday with 28 points and 12 rebounds. But she wasn't alone.

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Satou Sabally had a sublime performance, scoring nine points and dishing out seven assists, while also giving the Ducks possession on a jump ball before Hebard's go-ahead basket late in regulation, and poking away a steal for a crucial overtime stop. Maite Cazorla played all 45 minutes, capping a week that began with her being bed-ridden due to illness, and had 11 points with five rebounds.

Erin Boley hit three early three-pointers, and Morgan Yaeger hit three more later in the game for a season-high nine points, including one at the buzzer to end the third quarter.

"I thought tonight we really showed our championship mettle, making plays when we really needed to," UO coach Kelly Graves said. "… For the last quarter plus overtime, every possession seemed to matter big-time."

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Yaeger's three to beat the buzzer gave Oregon a 56-52 lead entering the fourth quarter, and two Ionescu free throws pushed it to six early in the period at 67-61. Two quick baskets by UCLA made it a one-point game, and the Bruins tied it 69-69 on a three-pointer by Japreece Dean.

The lightning-quick guard tied it again at 71-71 after a bucket by Hebard, and she also put the Bruins up 74-73 with a three-pointer. Sabally's tie-up allowed the Ducks to keep possession for yet another basket by Hebard, but the Bruins made one of two free throws and the game went to overtime at 75-75.

The teams traded points early in the period, but the Ducks left the door open when Hebard missed two free throws with the score tied yet again, 81-81. But Sabally followed with a steal, the Ducks went back to Hebard and she finished at the basket. Sabally put the Ducks up for good at 85-83, then made one of two free throws before the Bruins committed one last turnover with the game on the line. Ionescu iced it with her two free throws.

What was on her mind at that point? "Honestly," she said, "I was so tired. I just wanted the game to be over."

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Duck fans who sweated out the fourth quarter and overtime could relate with that sentiment. Also, that of redshirting freshman Nyara Sabally, who told her teammates in the postgame locker room she'd been so nervous in the final minutes, "I'm about to throw up!"

The intensity of the final few minutes was in contrast to the mood hours earlier on the same court, when the Ducks held their early afternoon shootaround in MGM's Grand Garden Arena. The bulk of the session was spent on defense, concocting ways to keep the Bruins from attacking the basket as well as they had in beating the Ducks back on Feb. 22, 74-69

Offensively, the game plan was simple. "We're going to do what we do," Graves told his Ducks. "Let's hammer them inside."

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Time and again over the final 15 minutes Saturday night, the Ducks did that, looking to Hebard in the post. She helped give the Ducks a razor-thin 41-39 advantage in rebounds, and opened up the perimeter for 10 three-pointers, nearly double the six Oregon was able to hit in the regular-season loss.

"We were all ready to come out and play Duck basketball," Hebard said. "I think that's what you got today."

A day earlier, Oregon survived a quarterfinal win over Arizona that Graves said "didn't feel that pretty." Neither did Saturday's semifinal victory, as the two teams bruised and battered each other in the post, officials for the most part swallowing their whistles.

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"It's nice to know we can grind out games," Graves said. "And we've played two of them in this tournament alone."

They've won both. And now there's one more, the prospect of which made Ionescu sit up straight in her chair Saturday night, no matter how sore, tired and hungry she might have been.

"We've worked so hard to get to this point, and we've grinded out so many wins to get here," she said. "So, regardless of how tired we are, we're going to be ready.