Oregon Falters at No. 11 Iowa

Thursday, January 15

Iowa City, IA

6 p.m.

University of Oregon

14-5,2-4Big Ten

Iowa

15-2,6-0Big Ten

Oregon

Iowa

Photo by: GoDucks.com

01/15/26 | Women's Basketball

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Etute led UO with 15 points and eight rebounds.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Oregon trailed No. 11 Iowa by five points at halftime, but the Hawkeyes used a 24-point third quarter to pull away and hand the Ducks a 74-66 loss at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Thursday.

Oregon (14-5, 2-4) had just one player score in double figures while Iowa saw four players produce double-digit scoring efforts to remain unbeaten in Big Ten play. Ehis Etute paced the Ducks with 15 points and eight rebounds.

"Anytime you get early fouls, you start to play a little but more tentative," said Oregon head coach Kelly Graves.

The Hawkeyes (15-2, 6-0) outscored Oregon 24-13 in the third quarter, shooting 53 percent from the field in the period. Iowa put together a 9-2 run that stretched its lead to 14 and closed the quarter on a 14-5 scoring burst, carrying a 16-point lead to the fourth quarter.

Sofia Bell maintained her hot-shooting stretch from the beyond the arc, scoring nine points behind three triples. Astera Tuhina added nine points and Amina Muhammad chipped in eight, both coming off the bench, to help UO score 32 bench points.

"I was really proud of a couple of our players," Graves added. "I thought the bench did a heck of a job."

How It Happened: The Ducks' offense took some time to get going, missing its first eight field goal attempts of the game, including five from behind the arc. An Etute putback followed by a Katie Fiso triple got the Ducks within a point, 7-6, as the game hit the first media timeout. UO went 4-of-15 from the floor in the quarter while getting a pair of 3-pointers from Bell. Iowa connected on 8-of-18 shots to take an 18-12 lead after 10 minutes.

The Hawkeyes scored the first six points of the second quarter to extend their lead to 12 points before Sara Barhoum knocked down a corner three, followed by a Sarah Rambus jumper to cut the deficit to seven. Iowa immediately answered with five points over its next two trips down the floor to push its lead back to a dozen with just over five minutes remaining in the half.

Coming off the bench, Muhammad hit three consecutive shots to help trim the deficit in half at the 2:00 mark. The Ducks closed the half with back-to-back threes by Avary Cain and Bell, getting as close as three points before an Iowa layin in the closing seconds.

Despite getting a combined four points in the half from its two leading scorers in Fiso and Mia Jacobs, Oregon was within striking distance at halftime, down 36-31. Bell led the Ducks with nine first-half points, going 3-of-5 from long range, and Muhammad added six points. UO's bench had a 16-12 edge, but the Hawkeyes owned a 20-8 advantage in the paint.

The Hawkeyes got going from deep in the third quarter as they hit three of their first five shots from range to push their lead to 10 points midway through the third. Consecutive jumpers by Fiso and Rambus got the Ducks within seven points before UI's third three of the quarter pushed the lead back to 10. A 14-5 Hawkeye run to close the third quarter inflated the lead to 16 points through 30 minutes.

The fourth quarter proved to be the most fruitful for Oregon's offense, scoring 22 points to Iowa's 14. Etute accounted for nine while Astera Tuhina knocked down a pair of threes in the frame. The Ducks cut their deficit to single digits with just over two minutes to play following Barhoum's second 3-pointer of the day.

Up Next: The Ducks finish their road trip on Sunday at Wisconsin (1 p.m. PT, Big Ten Network).