University of Oregon
Washington State
Ducks Survive Late Surge, Beat Washington State 54-50
01/20/06 | Women's Basketball
EUGENE, Ore. -- The University of Oregon women's basketball team withstood a frantic Washington State rally after surrendering an 18-point second-half lead and hung on for a 54-50 Pac-10 victory Thursday in front of 3,360 fans at McArthur Court.
The Ducks (11-6, 2-5 Pac-10), who opened the contest 1-of-12 from the field, snapped their own three-game losing skid while extending WSU's to 10 games.
“You'll always take a win, but it definitely wasn't the way we wanted it to go,” said senior guard Chelsea Wagner. “We didn't have any intensity out there.”
Oregon finished the game with 19 turnovers and shot 38.8 percent from the floor, but still appeared poised for a blowout win despite early shooting woes. The Ducks led by as many as 17 points with less than 10 minutes to play, but the Cougars (6-11, 0-8) ran off a 19-4 run, pulling within two points at 52-50 with 1:03 to play on a three-pointer by junior post Kate Benz.
WSU senior guard Crystal Blue missed a potential game-tying jumper with nine seconds left, and UO senior guard Brandi Davis iced the victory by hitting a pair of free throws with five second to play.
“Washington State is a team that never goes away,” said Davis. “They've got a lot of heart. They took advantage of our mental errors.”
Those errors consisted of rushed shots and porous defense over the final 9:56 of the game that breathed life into the conference's only team without a league win this season.
“We need to stop having lapses and continue to build our leads for the entirety of the game,” junior forward Eleanor Haring said. “We're going to have to pick our game up (against Washington on Saturday). Everyone is going to have to bring everything they've got.”
Haring and junior center Carolyn Ganes each had 10 points to lead Oregon. Haring also posted a game-high seven rebounds.
WSU received a game-high 14 points from Benz along with 12 points from freshman guard Katie Appleton. The Cougars managed only 33.3 percent shooting, but committed four less turnovers than the Ducks and made 11 steals to UO's four.
“I told (the team) after the game we need to keep the ball in our own hands,” said head coach Bev Smith. “We went entirely away from our game plan. We have a lot of young players that need to start taking some steps.”
Those steps will need to come quickly as the Huskies (13-4, 6-2) will hit Mac Court fresh off a 70-53 win at Oregon State on Thursday.
“This is a marathon,” Smith added. “We have some young players playing major roles that haven't been in this situation before.”
QUACK TRACKS: Oregon used a 16-3 rebound run from the 11:16 mark of the first half to the 17:26 mark of the second half (a span of 13:50 total) to turn an eight-point deficit (17-9) into a 15-point lead (37-22) ... After totaling just one block in the first four games, JR F Jessie Shetters has one or more blocks in 10 of the last 12 games, totaling 19 over that span .. The Ducks' leading scorer this season, SO C Gabrielle Richards, did not practice this week and played only two minutes due to illness.
