Cougars Are First Postseason Hurdle As Ducks Open Pac-12 Tournament
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
All season long, the Oregon women’s basketball team has bucked the odds.
Under a first-year head coach, Kelly Graves, the Ducks have flirted with a .500 record. This past Sunday, they upset No. 19 Stanford, 62-55. Why not one more?
The UO women are in Seattle for the Pac-12 Tournament, and kick it off Thursday morning against Washington State in KeyArena (11:30 a.m. PT, Pac-12 Networks). The Ducks have lost six straight conference tournament games, and would like to buck the odds once more this season.
“I still think we’re a dangerous team,” said Graves, who has helped the Ducks to a 13-16 record while adjusting to dramatically new offensive and defensive systems. “I don’t think many people are expecting us to go up and do much, but as long as the team believes and our staff believes and the fans believe, that’s all that matters.”
Sunday’s upset of the Cardinal, the conference standard-bearer for decades, made for a confident Oregon bunch entering the tournament. The Ducks will be looking to win a rubber match with the Cougars, with each having won on the other’s home court in the regular season.
“This is a game we can compete in, and if we play really well we can win,” said UO junior Jillian Alleyne, who on Sunday joined Courtney Paris of Oklahoma and Chiney Ogwumike of Stanford as the only players in NCAA history with 27 or more double-doubles in consecutive seasons.
Alleyne will be at the center of everything for Oregon against the Cougars, as usual. Washington State counters with arguably the Pac-12’s best backcourt, the tandem of Tia Presley and Lia Galdeira, whom Graves called “a first-round draft pick” once she moves on to the WNBA.
Thus, it’s a contrast of styles between the inside-oriented Ducks, who won 70-69 in Pullman this season, and the guard-dominant Cougars, who won 79-76 in Eugene. “It’s funny we’re so close, because we’re different in a lot of different ways,” Graves said. “But it’s a good matchup for us. I’m sure they’re saying the same thing, and it should be an exciting way to open the tournament.”
Presuming the Cougars try to stop Alleyne inside, she would benefit from being able to kick out to freshman guard Lexi Bando, who has missed two games with a shoulder injury. Graves was pleased to see Bando take a step in her recovery Tuesday and do some shooting with the team, though he termed her “questionable” for Thursday.
“I hope she’s able to go, just because she’s a big part of our future and I want her to play in the tournament and see what that’s like,” Graves said. “But the reality is, we have other players who can step up.”
Junior Lexi Petersen played nearly wire-to-wire in Bando’s absence against the Cardinal, with seniors Amanda Delgado and Katelyn Loper, sophomore Drea Toler and junior Jordan Loera also in the guard rotation. They helped limit Stanford to 6-of-25 three-point shooting and .358 shooting overall, an encouraging performance as the Ducks look ahead to defending WSU’s potent guards.
“We’ve gotten better and better,” Graves said. “To hold Stanford the other night to 35 percent from the field and 55 total points, and really doing a great job on their perimeter players, I think we’ve dialed in. Our players have really stepped up in the last month.”
The winner of Thursday’s matchup between seventh-seeded Washington State (16-13) and 10th-seeded Oregon plays again at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, against No. 2 seed Arizona State.
