University of Oregon
4-3
Navy
4-5
Historic Second Half Surge Lifts UO Past Navy
12/07/14 | Women's Basketball
EUGENE, Ore. – The Oregon women's basketball team outscored Navy by 29 points in the second half and overcame a 23-point deficit to beat the Midshipmen, 72-64, on Saturday night at Matthew Knight Arena.
“We play with a lot of heart," said head coach Kelly Graves. "We had every opportunity to just lay over and we didn't. That was a character game. No question. A character game.”
Comeback History: The Ducks' 23-point comeback against Navy is the largest in program history. The previous record was 22 points, when the Ducks defeated Arizona, 75-71, on March 4, 2000.
First Half Woes: The Ducks trailed early after a 16-3 run by Navy made it a 28-10 game with 7:41 left in the first half. Oregon was shooting just 3-of-13 with nine turnovers at that time while Navy was 10-of-22 from the floor, including 7-of-15 from three-point range.
Oregon chipped into the lead a bit after a steal and score by Lexi Petersen and a pair of layups by Jillian Alleyne, but Navy remained hot from long range. The Mids had a 36-17 lead with 3:27 left in the first half and nine of their first 13 made baskets were three-pointers.
Navy nailed two more three-pointers going into halftime and led the Ducks, 45-24. The Mids shot 45.7 percent from the floor in the first half and 50 percent from downtown (11-of-22) while the Ducks were just 9-of-25 from the floor with 11 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
Second Half Comeback: Oregon opened the second half on an 18-7 run to make it a 10-point game, 52-42, with nine minutes remaining. Alleyne had six of those points to give her a double-double while Jordan Loera, Amanda Delgado and Katelyn Loper each buried three-pointers.
A coast-to-coast lay-up by Petersen and back-to-back three-pointers by Delgado cut the Navy lead to just two points, 54-52, before a steal by Alleyne led to a game-tying layup by Loper with 6:05 remaining. Oregon took its first lead of the game on a free throw by Delgado, 55-54, with 5:34 on the clock.
Navy didn't go away, however, and hit back-to-back three-pointers to retake the lead, 60-58, with 3:35 left to play. Loper buried another three to give Oregon the lead once again, 62-60, with 2:32 left.
A pair of free throws from Petersen and layup by Alleyne pushed the UO lead to four with 1:54 left to play. The Mids came within two after Peri Curtis hit a jumper with 56 seconds left but Petersen made it a two possession game once again with a 10-footer. Free throws from Loper and Lexi Bando in the final seconds solidified the comeback.
The Human Double-Double: Alleyne posted her 48th career double-double with 19 points and 16 rebounds. The junior has a double-double in all seven games this season and 16 straight dating back to last year. She tied Cheryl Miller's Pac-12 record earlier last season with 18 straight double-doubles.
By The Numbers: Oregon outscored Navy 48-19 in the second half, thanks to a 15-of-31 (48 percent) shooting effort. With 10 rebounds against Portland and 16 tonight against Navy, Alleyne (984) is just 13 rebounds shy of passing Stefanie Kasperski (996, 1986-90) for third all-time in career rebounds. The Ducks forced 12 turnovers in the second half, converting them for 21 points.
Up Next: Oregon returns to action next Saturday, Dec. 13, at 2 p.m. against Northern Arizona at Matthew Knight Arena.
