Ducks Open Season Against Rainbow Wahine - University of Oregon Athletics

Monday, November 2

Eugene, OR

3 p.m.

University of Oregon

Hawai'i

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10/30/26 | Women's Basketball

2026-27 season officially begins Monday vs. Hawai'i (3 p.m., B1G+).

EUGENE, Ore. – Oregon women's basketball is set to embark on its 54th season and 13th under head coach Kelly Graves on Monday, as the Ducks host Hawai'i in their season opener at Matthew Knight Arena at 3 p.m.

The Ducks bring back seven players from last year's roster that reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament, including starters Ehis Etute, Katie Fiso and Ari Long. UO was set to retain four of five starters, however, senior guard Sofia Bell has been ruled out for the entire 2026-27 season with a lower-body injury.

Oregon also added transfer forward Hilary Fuller from Belmont while fifth-year forward Mallory Heyer, a transfer from Minnesota, will make her Duck debut after sitting out the 2025-26 season. Four freshmen also join the flock in guards La'u Pele Falatea, Brooklynn Haywood, Kennedy Holman and center Emilia Krstevski.

The Ducks are coming off a 23-13 season, reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament. It marked the ninth 20-win season in Graves' UO tenure, and fourth over the last five seasons. UO has qualified for seven of the last nine NCAA Tournaments. Oregon seeks its 14th consecutive season-opening victory, while it has won 23 of the last 24 season openers.

Season and single-game tickets are now on sale and available at GoDucks.com/WBBtix.

GAME #1
Oregon (0-0) vs. Hawai'i (0-0)
Monday, Nov. 2 | 3 p.m. PT | Matthew Knight Arena (Eugene, Ore.)
TV/Stream: B1G+
Play-by-play: CJ Flores | Analyst: Dylan De Cesare
Radio: Oregon Sports Network (KUGN 98.1 FM/590 AM)
Play-by-play: Saul Galvan | Analyst: Bev Smith
Listen Online | Live Stats | Tickets

A WIN WOULD…
» Extend Oregon's winning streak in season openers to 14 straight, dating back to the 2013-14 season.
» Improve the Ducks' record in season openers under head coach Kelly Graves to 13-0.
» Give UO its 24th victory in its last 25 season openers.
» Give the Ducks their 82nd win in their last 84 nonconference home games.
» Improve Graves' nonconference record to 147-40 while at Oregon, with an 87-4 home record.
» Bring Oregon's all-time record against Hawai'i to 4-3, including an 3-0 record at home.
» Mark the Ducks' third straight win in the series and hand Graves a 3-0 record against Hawai'i during his UO tenure.

SCOUTING HAWAI'I
Last season, Hawai'i went 22-11 overall with a 14-6 Big West record, as it reached the championship game of the Big West Tournament. The Rainbow Wahine, who enter their first season in the Mountain West, won 16 of their final 18 games to close the 2025 season, including a 10-game winning streak leading up to the Big West title game.

UH brings back two starters among eight letterwinners from last year's roster, including leading scorer in guard Bailey Flavell. Flavell started all 33 games last season while putting up 12.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game while shooting 37.9 percent from the floor and 30.7 percent from the 3-point line as a freshman. Senior guard Jade Peacock also returns after starting 19 contests and averaging 2.5 points and 1.8 rebounds a night.

Flavell was voted to the Mountain West's 2026-27 preseason all-conference team while Hawai'i was picked to finish fourth in the conference's preseason poll. Khalilah Mitchell takes the helm after longtime head coach Laura Beeman announced her retirement after 14 seasons leading the Rainbow Wahine.

INSIDE THE SERIES
Oregon and Hawai'i will meet for seventh time in Monday's season opener, as the teams have split the previous six matchups dating back to the 1978-79 season. The Ducks have won the last two meetings between the teams, with the last coming during the 2017-18 season. UO owns a 2-0 record at home against the Rainbow Wahine, while head coach Kelly Graves is 2-0 vs. UH in his Oregon tenure.

TUNING UP
The Ducks played their lone preseason exhibition prior to the 2026-27 season on Oct. 20 in Matthew Knight Arena. They won 120-35 over neighboring Bushnell, with the program's four freshmen supplying 52 points as they got their first run in their new home.

"It definitely felt really good," said Brooklynn Haywood, a guard from Anchorage, Alaska, who led the Ducks with 22 points. "I've been waiting for so long to play on that court, so it was great. And just the group that I'm with, it just makes me really happy to be out there."

Fellow freshman guard La'u Pele Falatea added 14 points for the UO women, while veteran transfers Mallory Heyer and Hilary Fuller scored 13 apiece. Ari Long had 11 points and Katie Fiso scored 10 to lead Oregon's returning veterans, who for the most part could sit back and watch the newcomers get their first collegiate action, albeit in a non-counting game.

"I think this was great for us, to get a nice tune-up and let everybody get out there and feel good and play hard," UO coach Kelly Graves said. "There are some things that we can do better, but I think by and large it was a good night."

SEASON IN REVIEW
The 2025-26 season saw Oregon reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season, as the Ducks qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the 19th time in program history and seventh time under head coach Kelly Graves. UO earned a No. 8-seed and defeated ninth-seeded Virginia Tech in the first round, 70-60, at Moody Center in Austin, Texas, before falling to top-seed Texas in the Round of 32, 100-58.

The Ducks, who went 23-13, secured their ninth 20-win season in 12 seasons under Graves. Despite being a No. 11-seed in the Big Ten Tournament, Oregon pulled out victories in each of the first two days of the Big Ten Tournament, including a 73-68 upset of six-seed and 14th-ranked Maryland to reach the quarterfinals.

The win over the Terrapins was one of three top-25 wins turned in by the Ducks last season, with two coming against Maryland, after UO claimed a 68-61 win in College Park against the then-16th-ranked Terps. UO also took down No. 21 USC on the road, 71-66. Oregon began last season by winning 10 straight games, its best start to a season since beginning the 2015-16 11-0.

RETURN AISLE
Oregon brings back six letterwinners from last season's NCAA Tournament team, as the program graduated forward Mia Jacobs, forward Amina Muhammad and guard Astera Tuhina. Four of UO's returners were regular starters a season ago, however, senior guard Sofia Bell has been ruled out for the entire season due to a lower-body injury. Returning starters include forward Ehis Etute, guard Katie Fiso and guard Ari Long, while fifth-year transfer forward Mallory Heyer figures to slide into the starting five after sitting out last season after her transfer from Minnesota last December. Bench players a season ago, guard Avary Cain and forward Filippa Tilliander are both poised to crack the starting lineup or be the first off the bench for the Ducks.

» Fiso (15.5 ppg) and Etute (12.5 ppg) were the Ducks top two leading scorers a season ago as sophomores. Fiso's 12.4 points per game improvement from her freshman season was the second-biggest such leap in the Big Ten in 2025-26, while Etute ranked eighth in the league by improving by 8.3 points a night.
» Fiso earned all-Big Ten second-team accolades while Etute became the first Duck to be named Big Ten Player of the Week on Feb. 2.
» Long started 33 of 36 games last season and was the team leader in steals with 67 (No. 6 in the Big Ten) and steals per game at 1.86.
» Cain's first year as a Duck saw her average 3.8 points a game while shooting 34.8 percent from the 3-point line. Cain's career-high 13 points (3-for-3 3FG) helped Oregon upset No. 14 Maryland in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament.
» Tilliander appeared in a career-high 22 games last season as a junior, averaging 1.0 points and 1.5 rebounds a game.

NEW TO THE FLOCK
Five new Ducks join the flock for the 2026-27 season, including a four-member freshman class to go with junior forward Hilary Fuller, who transferred from Belmont. Oregon also brought in the nation's 14th-ranked recruiting class, according to ESPN.com, with three top-60 recruits in guard Brooklynn Hayood (No. 33), forward Emilia Krstevski (No. 44) and guard Kennedy Holman (No. 59) in addition to three-star guard La'u Pele Falatea.

» In her two seasons with Belmont, Fuller averaged 8.1 points and 2.8 rebounds a game while shooting 40.6 percent from the floor and 30.9 percent from the 3-point line.
» Last season, Fuller had a breakout year with her 14.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists a night while shooting 40.7 from the field and 35.3 percent from deep, helping her earn all-Missouri Valley Conference third-team honors.
» As a senior, Haywood averaged 32.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.4 steals per game, leading Union High School to a 25-4 record and an appearance in the quarterfinals of the 2026 WIAA Class 4A state tournament.
» Haywood was one of 50 prep players named to the 2025-26 Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Girls High School Player of the Year Watch List.
» Krstevski comes to Eugene with some international experience with Team Canada, as she participated in the 2026 FIBA U18 Women's AmeriCup and 2024 FIBA U17 Women's World Cup, earning silver in both competitions.
» Krstevski was also selected to the 2026 Nike Hoop Summit in Portland as part of the World Select team.
» Holman set career highs as a senior at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers, Ind., averaging 17.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.4 blocks per game.
» Holman, whose mother Lisa Bowyer played at Oregon from 1995-95, was originally committed to Florida but reopened her recruitment following a leadership change in the Gators' program.
» Falatea was named 5A state player of the year in Utah as a senior after averaging 25.7 points, 7.2 assists, 6.3 rebounds and 6.2 steals per game. Falatea was a three-time first-team all-state selection and totaled 1,869 points in her career at West High School in Salt Lake City.
» Falatea follows in her sister's footsteps, as former UO guard Nani Falatea played her final collegiate season in 2024-25 with the Ducks.