Oregon State Uses a Strong Second Half to Rout the Ducks

Oregon had high hopes coming into Sunday, matching up against their most recent opponent once again in the Oregon State Beavers. The Beavers got out to a hot start, withstood an Oregon charge and eventually pulled away for a 68-49 victory against the Ducks, marking their fifth consecutive in the series. Ali Gibson and Jamie Weisner lead all scorers with 14 apiece and Samantha Siegner added 10 more as the Ducks failed to get a scorer into double figures. They were paced though with 9 from both Danielle Love and Liz Brenner. Overall for the game, Oregon shot 25% from the field and an abysmal 18% from 3.

The first half could not have gotten out to a worse start for Oregon as they did not even find the basket until the 15:14 mark in the first, allowing the Beavers to get out to an 11-0 lead in the first five minutes of the game. Oregon though, would not go away quietly in the first half as they slowly built their way back into the game as the Ducks made a timely pair of three pointers and with a little over a minute remaining, Liz Brenner would connect on a pair of free throws to drag the Ducks back within three points at the half.

The second half remained, to see if this team could work their way toward a tough road win but they were unable to keep up the intensity they ended with in the first half. Oregon State made 7 of the first 9 of the second and the rout was on. The Ducks made only 6 field goals in the half as the Beavers continued to frustrate the Ducks with their defense. OSU's lead eventually ballooned to 23 when Alyssa Martin made a pair from the stripe and with less than 3 minutes remaining the damage had been done. Oregon just could not seem to put the ball in the basket going on long droughts without finding the hoop.

On the positive side, Oregon did tally 24 offensive rebounds but a lot of that comes back to them missing 46 shots from the field. The Ducks were weak in every shooting statistic, making barely over half of their free throws. The turnover bug also popped back up for the Ducks as they had 19 give aways leading to 17 Beaver points. The team did not look ready to play and lethargic at times and a frustrated Paul Westhead's only real comment about the team's shooting woes amounted to, "We had open shots, we missed." The Ducks are now 0-6 in conference play and the likelihood of the Ducks getting a conference win seems to shrink more and more with each game they play. The Ducks go on the road for the Washington schools next week as Westhead and the Ducks will continue to crusade toward breaking into the win column in conference play.