University of Oregon
8-9, 1-5P12
Washington State
11-6, 2-4P12
Ducks' Comeback Bid Falls Short Against Washington State
01/18/15 | Women's Basketball
EUGENE, Ore. – An 18-4 run in the second half tied it up, but the Ducks couldn't complete the comeback and fell, 79-76, to Washington State on Sunday at Matthew Knight Arena.
The Ducks slip to 8-9 (1-5 Pac-12) with the loss while WSU improves to 11-6 (2-4).
Stat Sheet: Drea Toler had a career-high 16 points on 7-for-14 shooting while Jillian Alleyne led the Ducks with 23 points and all players with 16 rebounds. Katelyn Loper buried four three-pointers and tallied 16 points off the bench.
How It Happened: The Ducks trailed by as much as eight points early but cut the WSU lead to just one, 15-14, with 11:10 left in the first half. Oregon took its first lead on a three-pointer by Loper to make it a 22-19 game with 8:15 before halftime. UO pushed its first half lead to 29-23 on a steal and score by Loper with 4:17 on the clock. The Cougars rallied back ahead to take a 37-35 lead into the locker room. The Ducks shot 45.2 percent in the first half, led by Loper's 11 points and Alleyne's eight rebounds.
Midway through the second half, WSU extended its lead to 12 points, 61-47, with 10:33 remaining. At that point, the Ducks were shooting 33.3 percent in the second half while the Cougars were shooting 50 percent. Oregon responded, however, and went on an 18-4 run to tie it up, 65-65 with 5:29 left to play.
WSU pushed back ahead but a three-pointer by Bando made it 72-71 before Tia Presley knocked down a three on the other end to make it a 74-71 lead for the Cougars. A pair of Lia Galdeira free throws with 2:08 remaining gave WSU a 77-71 lead.
After a layup by Alleyne, Toler took Presley off the dribble, hit the layup, was fouled and made the free throw to make it a 77-76 lead for the Cougars with 35 seconds left.
After intentionally fouling, WSU missed the ensuing free throw but a jump ball gave possession back to the Cougars. Oregon fouled again with 6.6 seconds left but Galdeira made both free throws to make it a three-point advantage, 79-76, and the Ducks missed a potential game-tying basket at the buzzer.
Notable: Center Janitah Iamaleava did not play against WSU and has left the team ... WSU was playing without starting center Shalie Dheensaw, who was injured against Oregon State on Friday … Loper had more three-pointers (3-for-6) in the first half than WSU had as a team (2-for-11).
Quotable: “It was a good game, but it's really not about me. It's about my team. We really needed this win tonight, but this is really going to be a good lesson for us. We have to get back in practice and work on the little things that caused us to lose this game. You never know what is going to happen. I don't worry too much about it. I just know when the opportunity is there I need to take it." --Toler
"I feel a lot better about the effort tonight, obviously not the outcome. The things we talked about in the locker room after is if you totally invest in a game you should feel crushed after a game like this. These are always tough because we had our chances late and had a lot of msised opportunities throughout the game." -- UO head coach Kelly Graves
Up Next: The Ducks hit the road for games against Arizona State (Friday) and Arizona (Sunday) next week.
