The Arizona women’s basketball team took another conference hit after a 92-74 defeat at the hands of the Oregon Ducks in Eugene, Thursday.
The Wildcats (11-11, 5-7 Pacific 10 Conference) were primed with momentum coming off a strong home stand this weekend with wins against Washington State and Washington but had trouble fending off a highly offensive Oregon Ducks (15-8, 6-5) team.
“”I think (Oregon) beat us in every facet of the basketball game,”” Arizona head coach Niya Butts said. “”They defended us pretty well and we missed a lot of layups and we missed a lot of free throws.””
From the first whistle it was back and forth until halftime. Arizona lead by five with 7:16 left in the first, but the Ducks managed to fight back to tie game at 36-36 shortly thereafter.
Oregon quickly broke the tie with back-to-back three pointers from forward Victoria Kenyon and guard Taylor Lilley.
This set off an 8-0 run for Oregon and took them into the locker room with some solid momentum and a halftime score of 44-38.
Oregon carried their momentum from the first half straight into the second.
The Wildcats, who were facing foul trouble in the first half, played conservatively coming into the second, giving the Ducks the ability to run a quick transition offense.
“”I think having Ify (Ibekwe) in foul trouble definitely hurts us and she was out the majority of the first half,”” Butts said. “”Anytime we don’t have her, it kind of hurts our flow a little bit.
The Ducks came out with another 8-0 run at the beginning of the half on the back of Nicole Canepa who, coming off the bench, provided three quick baskets for the Ducks.
With 12:56 remaining, Oregon led 62-47 and would hold a lead of 13 or more points until the end of the game.””Our lack of scoring on the offensive end kind of paced us on the defensive,”” Butts said. “”That shouldn’t happen.””
At the buzzer, Oregon finished 18 points ahead of the Wildcats. Six of their players finished with double-digit point tallies, including a double-double by center Amanda Johnson who shot for 13 points and hauled in 14 rebounds.
The Arizona offense, despite being stifled in the second half, still put up some solid game numbers. Forward Soana Lucet managed to rack up a game high 23 points including six rebounds and guard Davellyn Whyte added 12 points to the Wildcats’ total.
Arizona heads to Corvallis to face the Oregon State Beavers on Saturday. The Beavers were unable to come up with a home victory in last night’s contest against Arizona State.
Oregon State is currently ninth in the Pac-10 table and their one conference victory will give them little confidence going into the Gill Coliseum.
Despite the loss last night, Butts and staff still have confidence in the team and are looking ahead toward the next obstacle.
“”I’m still proud of our kids even though we did not play this game well at all,”” Butts said, “”But we’ll bounce back.””
