Ducks’ Run Ends in Round of 32

Sunday, March 23

Durham, NC

9 a.m.

University of Oregon

20-12,10-8Big Ten

Duke

28-7,14-4ACC

Oregon

Duke

Photo by: Eric Evans/GoDucks.com

03/23/25 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (Duke 59, Oregon 53)Photo Gallery

DURHAM, N.C. — It was a tale of two halves Sunday at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Oregon never trailed in the first half of its second-round matchup with No. 2-seed Duke, but only led for 41 seconds in the second half in the Blue Devils' 59-53 win in the NCAA Tournament.

The Ducks (20-12) took a 28-23 lead into the halftime only to see Duke (28-7) start the second half on an 11-0 run to take its first lead. UO trimmed the deficit to just one, 51-50, with under five minutes left in the game, but was never able to reclaim the lead it enjoyed in the first half.

"Usually, the third quarter has been our quarter, and today Duke came out and just kind of put their foot down a little bit to start the quarter," said head coach Kelly Graves. "It took us a little bit to kind of get back and stand up."

Graduate guard Deja Kelly turned in her second 20-point performance of the tournament to lead the Ducks, while senior center Phillipina Kyei finished with a 14-point, 13-rebound double-double.

The Oregon Ducks take on the Duke Blue Devils in round 2 of the 2025 NCAA Tournament at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham South Carolina on March 23, 2025 (Eric Evans Photography)

Duke's pressure forced 17 Oregon turnovers that resulted in 18 Blue Devil points. Ashlon Jackson, who was held scoreless in the first half, scored all 20 of her points in the second half, including all 11 of he team's points in the 11-0 run to begin the second half.

"I'm really proud of my team," Graves said. "At the start of the year, you always look maybe best case what you think your team can do. And at the start of the year, I thought if we play really well at the right time, this is a team capable of getting to the second weekend, and we almost got there. We just came up a little short today."

How It Happened: Kelly knocked down her first two jumpers of the game to help the Ducks out to a 7-2 lead as the game hit its first media timeout. UO forced three Duke turnovers and held the Blue Devils to 1-for-6 shooting in that span. Out of the timeout, Duke scored the next five points to tie the game, 7-7, but a steal and transition 3-pointer by Sofia Bell stopped the run and gave the Ducks the lead again.

Kyei converted a layin in the closing seconds to help Oregon to a 12-9 lead after the first quarter. The Ducks shot 5-for-10 from the floor while holding the Blue Devils to 4-for-14, including 0-for-4 from deep. Kyei led with five points in the quarter while Kelly added four.

The Ducks put together a seven-point run to take a 24-15 lead midway through the second. The run included a Peyton Scott jumper, a Nani Falatea 3-pointer and a putback by Amina Muhammad to hand UO its largest lead to that point. However, Duke responded by scoring the next six to trim the lead to just three before Scott and Falatea hit back-to-back jumpers for a 28-23 halftime lead.

Kelly had nine first-half points to pace the Ducks offense, with Falatea and Kyei each adding five and Scott chipped in four. Oregon shot 50 percent from the floor (12-for-24) in the half while holding Duke to 36 percent shooting (10-for-28). The Blue Devils converted eight UO turnovers into nine points.

The Oregon Ducks take on the Duke Blue Devils in round 2 of the 2025 NCAA Tournament at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham South Carolina on March 23, 2025 (Eric Evans Photography)

After being held scoreless in the first half, Duke's Jackson scored 11 straight to start the second half to give the Blue Devils their first lead of the day, 34-28. The Ducks missed their first four shots of the half until getting their first point from Kyei at the free throw line to stop the run.

Oregon trailed by as many as 10 in the quarter before five unanswered points from Kelly to put the score at 41-36 with just under three minutes to go. The deficit stayed at five at the end of the third, with Duke in front 45-40. Kelly put up nine of UO's 12 points, while Jackson had 14 of Duke's 22 in the frame.

"I was really proud of how we played in that first half, but you can't just play 20 minutes of basketball," Kelly added. "I think that's where our kind of defensive lapses kind of happened early on in that third quarter, and we just dug ourselves too deep of a hole."

The Ducks began the fourth by scoring six of the first eight points to trim the deficit to one point after Kyei converted an and-one, 47-46. Duke's lead was cut to one against after another Kyei layup, 51-50, as the quarter passed its midway mark.

However, Kyei's bucket would be the last from the field for the Ducks, who missed their last nine field goal attempts over the final four and a half minutes. With Duke ahead by four, Jackson hit a triple to push her team's lead to seven with 1:33 left. Kyei accounted for eight of UO's 13 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

"This has been truly one of the best years of my career," said Kelly. "I could not be more thankful for this group, for the staff, for the program, not only for welcoming me with open arms, but KG said I reenergized the program, they reenergized me."

Notable: Oregon is now 6-4 all time in the tournament as a No. 10 seed ... The all-time series between Oregon and Duke is now tied 1-1, with both games coming in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Cameron Indoor Stadium … Kelly turned in her team-leading ninth 20-point game on the season, with six of those coming over the last eight games … Kyei produced her 32^nd career double-double … This marked the first time this season the Ducks lost after leading at halftime (16-1) … Scott left the game with a leg injury in the second half and did not return.