Oregon's Rally Falls Short, Lose to Beavers 63-53

It's the same old story for this Oregon team as they went up against in state rival, Oregon State. The Ducks took an early lead but then surrendered a 12-0 run to the visitors who never looked back from that point. The Ducks found the hoops unfriendly as they missed shot after shot from the field and dug themselves into a hole they simply couldn't climb out of. After trailing the Beavers by 24, Oregon would fight back into the game and run out of gas down the stretch as they fell 63-53. Jamie Weisner led all scorers with 22 and Patricia Bright added 10 points and 6 blocks for the Beavers. The Ducks were lead by Liz Brenner whose 17 was her highest point total of the season.

For much of the first half the Ducks couldn't seem to find the nets while the Beavers pounded the offensive glass and were able to get multiple looks at the basket until they eventually fell. The Beavers were benefitted by a strong outside shooting presence as they connected on 5 of 14 from three. Meanwhile, Oregon looked to get the ball inside and were continually frustrated by Patricia Bright who had 6 total blocks, 5 in the first half alone. While the Ducks were bad from the field, their inability to shoot the deep ball is what really put them in the hole early. Overall Oregon shot only 6-31 from the field and was 1-10 from down town. The only Ducks who seemed to be able to find the basket in the first were Liz Brenner who led the Ducks with 9 and Danielle Love with 7, outside of them, no one on the team had more than 2 points. For Oregon State, they featured a more balanced scoring attack, but were lead by Jamie Weisner with 11, including a pair of three pointers. After the game, OSU coach spoke on Weisner's effort, "I knew she would be a handful and she really calmed us down by hitting shots early."

Oregon State would build on their lead and stretch it to as much as 24 before the Ducks shook the cobwebs out. Oregon seemed to wake up about half way through the second half and started to work their way back. The Ducks cut the Oregon State lead to 8 with 6:20 remaining when Devyn Galland hit a free throw and Danielle Love connected on a 3 after an offensive board by Jillian Alleyne. The Ducks though would get no closer than 7 as the clock ran out on their comeback bid. As out of the game as this team was in the first half, they truly did find a way to get themselves back into this game, at least within striking distance down the stretch.

The problem for Oregon's shooting tonight seemed to be rushing their shots. Coach Westhead and Danielle Love agreed with Love commenting, "When we were open we just shot it as quick as we could instead of just taking our time and getting that nice shot up." The rushing was possibly due to the 10 total blocked shots the Ducks faced. The Beavers seemed ready when Oregon wanted to put up an attempt and sent them back. The positives from this game are that despite getting down big, they seemed able to find their way back and at least win the second half. Also, they cut down on turnovers, committing only 11 which ties their season low. The Ducks will look to continue on their improvement and get that elusive W as they once again face off with the Beavers in Corvallis on Sunday, the 20^th.