Oregon Women’s Basketball: Ducks Sputter At Stanford, 54-62

Jan 30, 2023 - 11:54 AM

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Against many teams, the Oregon Ducks ladies can open with a cold start and catch up after finding their groove. We’ve seen them do exactly that multiple times this season. A #3 Stanford squad is not the team, however, where Oregon wanted to put themselves in that position. Even so, the Ducks could have made it a game, had they only found the basket on the many opportunities they had.

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In the first period, to along with woeful shooting, Oregon had problems adjusting to the Stanford defense, especially Phillipina Kyei, who had to contest with one of the best centers in the nation, Cameron Brink. This was one of the 13 blocks that the Cardinal threw down in this game:

Kyei is still young and still learning, and to her credit she showed significant improvement in her play during the second half. Stanford picked up nine of their 13 blocks in the first half, so Kyei and the Ducks did make some adjustments, but that wasn’t enough to make up for a shoddy first period where the Ducks only made two buckets on 12.5% shooting.

This continued in the second period, and if not for the offensive lapses, Oregon had a chance to make a statement in this game. For the most part, their energy and defense was very good. The Ducks held the Cardinal to 33% shooting in the first half. It’s just that Stanford was making the uncontested shots that Oregon was not, and it wasn’t for a lack of uncontested looks for Oregon.

Oregon was down 12-27 midway in the 2nd, but put together a 9-0 run to end the half, only down by six, 21-27. Grace VanSlooten was responsible for four points of this run.

In the third period, the Ducks kept even with the Cardinal until the middle of the period. Stanford hit consecutive threes mid-period that put them in front by 11. The Cardinal extended that to 13 with less than a minute left, and it was apparent that Oregon was not going to bridge the gap. The Ducks ended the third down 37-46.

Stanford is just too good to let the Ducks or anyone else in the game with this kind of advantage. By the 3:36 mark in the 4th, the Cardinal were up 16 and this game was effectively over, even as the Ducks did not give up and closed to our final score.

Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Stanford’s Cameron Brink had a career day with her first triple-double of 16 points, 11 rebounds, and a Stanford single-game blocks record of 10. Hannah Jump scored 14 points on the afternoon.

To underscore her improvement against a top-5 opponent, Phillipina Kyei finished with a double-double of 12 points and 17 rebounds, along with two blocks. Kyei was a co-points leader with Chance Gray, who also scored 12. Grace VanSlooten recorded 11 points.

In spite of being disrupted by the Stanford defense, and getting two blocks to 13 for the Cardinal, Oregon did well in other categories. They won the boards, 54-52. The Ducks had 5 turnovers to Stanford’s 10.

Oregon’s offense, however, failed them again. The Ducks had half the assists of the Cardinal, 9-18. Oregon shot a miserable 25% to 37% for Stanford. Too many times, the Ducks failed to get good shots to drop.

Oregon comes back home next weekend to host the mountain school. On Friday, 2/3, they play Colorado at 7:00 pm, and on Sunday, 2/5, it’s a 2:00 pm tip-off with Utah.