Ducks Fall in Corvallis to Open Pac-12 Play

Sunday, December 31

Corvallis, OR

2:00 PM

University of Oregon

9-5,0-1Pac-12

Oregon State

12-0,1-0Pac-12

Oregon

Oregon St.

12/31/23 | Women's Basketball

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CORVALLIS, Ore. — Oregon was unable to weather a second-half surge from Oregon State Sunday afternoon, as the Ducks fell to the Beavers 62-41 in the Pac-12 opener for both teams at Gill Coliseum.

The Ducks held the Beavers to 15 points on 22 percent shooting in the first half before OSU broke out for 47 points at a 60 percent clip in the second half. A 14-point run gave the Oregon State its first lead of the game with 3:13 to go in the third quarter. Oregon led by as many as 13 points in the first half and took a 23-15 lead into the locker room.

"Everything changed (in the second half)," said UO head coach Kelly Graves. "They got more aggressive and we didn't. I thought we played a great first half; we controlled the tempo, made great plays, extended possessions and then in the second half we let down and it started to snowball."

UO made six field goals in the second half, going 6-for-26 (23 percent) in scoring just 18 points. Grace VanSlooten led the Ducks with 15 points, as she was the only player to score in double figures. Center Phillipina Kyei hauled in 16 rebounds while Chance Gray scored nine points to see her streak of double-digit scoring efforts end at eight games.

"Our big three didn't have a great shooting night," Graves added. "That's tough, and then in the second half we really couldn't buy a bucket and nothing came easy. But give (Oregon State) the credit, they're a good team. We showed that we can play with anybody, but we've got to do it for 40 minutes, not 20."

OSU's Raegan Beers led all players with 24 points and 17 rebounds, turning in her Pac-12-leading ninth double-double of the season. Oregon State owned a 22-4 edge in points in the paint while outscoring UO's bench, 16-3.

How It Happened: An early 7-0 Oregon run created a 13-6 lead for the Ducks with under two minutes to play in the opening quarter. Kennedy Basham knocked down a pair of midrange jumpers while Gray connected on a 3-pointer to push UO to a 15-8 lead after one. OSU finished the frame making just one of its last eight shots from the floor.

The Beavers were then held without a point for the first 5:52 of the second quarter, as the Duck held OSU to 1-for-8 from the field to start the quarter. For the half, the Beavers shot 22 percent (7-for-22) compared to UO's 37 percent (11-for-30).

Kyei hauled in 11 of Oregon's 24 rebounds in the opening half while VanSlooten had a game-high eight points over the game's first 20 minutes, helping to the Ducks to an eight-point halftime lead.

The script flipped out of the locker room, as it was the Ducks' offense that struggled to gain traction in the second half. Oregon went 3-for-13 from the field in the third quarter, with two of the three made buckets coming from VanSlooten.

A Lily Hansford 3-pointer gave the Beavers their first lead of the day at 31-29 with 2:41 to play in the third. OSU used a 14-0 run, scoring 17 of the quarter's final 19 points, to take a 37-31 lead through three quarters.

The Beavers continued their hot shooting into the fourth, connecting on 65 percent of its field goals while assisting on nine of its 11 made field goals (11-for-17) in the quarter. Beers scored 13 of her 24 points in the quarter while hitting all six of her field goal attempts.

UO went 3-for-13 as a team for the second straight quarter, finishing the second half 6-for-26 from the field. OSU shot 60 percent in the second half to the Ducks' 23 percent.

Up Next: The Ducks fly south to take on No. 2 UCLA on Friday at Pauley Pavilion (7 p.m. PT, Pac-12 Oregon).