Run Ends In Final Four

Friday, April 5

Tampa, FL

4:00 PM

University of Oregon

33-5

Baylor

36-1

Oregon

Baylor

Photo by: @EricEvansPhoto

04/05/19 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box: Baylor 72, Oregon 67 Final Season Stats 18-19 NCAA Tournament Stats Postgame Press Conference

The Oregon women's basketball team rallied to the lead in the fourth quarter but missed critical shots down the stretch in a loss to Baylor.

By: Rob Moseley

TAMPA, Fla. — Sometimes, the shots fall.

They did this past Sunday, when the Oregon women's basketball team made its final seven field-goal attempts to advance through the Elite Eight with a four-point win over Mississippi State.

And sometimes, the shots don't fall. On Friday in the Ducks' first ever Final Four appearance, a fourth-quarter lead dissolved as the UO women made just 1-of-13 attempts in the closing minutes. No. 1 overall seed Baylor took advantage, beating Oregon, 72-67, and advancing to Sunday's national championship game.

The Ducks (33-5) used a 7-0 run to take a 64-61 lead with 6:12 left, capped by senior point guard Maite Cazorla's tiebreaking three-pointer. But Oregon missed its next seven shots before getting a game-tying three from Satou Sabally that made it 67-67. The Ducks, however, went scoreless over the final 1:39.

"We tried our best; we worked hard," said UO coach Kelly Graves, who in his fifth season took Oregon to its third straight Elite Eight and its first Final Four. "In the end, they made plays, and we didn't. But I'm really proud of my team, no question about it."

Friday's national semifinal was a contrast in styles, with Oregon's four-out offense against Baylor's twin towers, Kalani Brown and Lauren Cox. Brown and Cox combined for 43 points on 18-of-26 shooting, with 18 rebounds, and made for a quiet evening for UO junior post Ruthy Hebard, who had four points and nine rebounds.

The Ducks had chances to outscore the Lady Bears with jumpshots, but went 12-of-32 from three-point range. That 37.5 percent effort was just off the UO season average of 41.7 percent; just one or two extra makes would have made a massive difference Sunday.

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"Those were shots that we usually make," said Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon's Wade Trophy winner as national player of the year, who had 18 points on 6-of-24 shooting. "They were good looks. I didn't think we really forced too many threes up. We didn't hit them."

Oregon still led 64-63 when Ionescu put up a step-back three from the top of the key, similar to the one she hit late in the Elite Eight to help clinch that win. The crowd in Amalie Arena seemed to hold its breath, collecting ammunition for an eruption in the event of a make. But it missed, and at the other end Brown banked in a go-ahead bucket.

After Sabally's three-pointer tied it at 67-67, Ionescu couldn't finish at the rim, as she'd brilliantly done a couple times late in the Mississippi State game. After Chloe Jackson put Baylor up 69-67, Sabally stepped through an attempted blocked shot but missed a potential game-tying midrange jumper, and both Ionescu and Sabally missed threes after Cox made two free throws for a 71-67 lead.

"I've gotta be there for my team," Sabally said. "That's going to stick with me, and it's going to hurt for a while. But it's a learning process, and I'm definitely going to learn from this game."

Friday's loss capped the careers of Cazorla, who started every game over the last four years as Oregon ascended to national prominence, and backup forward Oti Gildon. As usual, Gildon found a way to have a big impact on a postseason game Friday, scoring on two putbacks despite the presence of Baylor's big posts. Those were four of the Ducks' 20 points in the paint, against 48 by the Lady Bears.

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The Ducks return a roster that figures to include Hebard, the 2017-18 national power forward of the year; Sabally, an emerging star; Erin Boley, who hit four three-pointers Friday; and a supporting cast that includes two freshmen unable to play due to injury this postseason, guard Taylor Chavez (foot) and Sabally's redshirting younger sister, Nyara Sabally.

Still uncertain is the status of Ionescu, the projected top pick in the WNBA draft should she chose to pass up her senior year. Ionescu didn't offer a definitive answer on her decision Friday, but she also didn't talk like a player ready to accept the Final Four loss as her last collegiate appearance.

"We continue to learn," she said. "We were put in a position we haven't been put before (in reaching the Final Four). But I think this us just going to make us more hungry. It's going to get us ready to want to come back."