Lady Ducks Fade Badly, Lose to Cardinal 81-60

The Oregon Ducks hung around for a half against the Stanford Cardinal before falling 81-60 tonight at Maples. The Ducks were ultimately done in by poor shooting (33.8%) and foul trouble (17 fouls total) on a night when Ruthy Hebard could not get untracked (4 points on 2-6 shooting.) Sabrina Ionescu returned from injury to put up 14 points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds, but on 22% shooting. The Lady Ducks also got 16 points and 11 rebounds from Mallory McGwire. No other player scored in double digits. Stanford was led by Alanna Smith (24 points,) Briana Roberson (15 points,) and Erica McCall (14 points.)

The Lady Ducks started off the game ice cold, and Stanford started off red hot racing out to a 9-2 lead off of 100% shooting. Then McGwire hit a couple of shots to bring the deficit down to 3, but Stanford was able to push the lead back up to 5 until a layup by Ionescu and a 3 from Justine Hall tied the game at 11. Roberson answered with a 3 of her own and Karlie Samuelson’s layup pushed the lead to 5 with just under 2 minutes remaining. A McCall layup increased the Stanford lead, and McGwire rebounded her own miss and put it home with 3 seconds remaining in the quarter to see the Ducks trailing 18-13. Oregon shot 30% from the floor while allowing Stanford to shoot 66.7%.

It’s quarters like the second that make me wonder if Oregon just likes playing in sloppy games. The game devolved into a foulfest, with 10 combined fouls in the quarter. Oregon and Stanford traded baskets and free throws throughout the quarter, but found themselves trailing by 8 after Smith sunk a 3 pointer for Stanford to close out the half. McGwire led the Ducks in the first half with 10 points and 5 rebounds, while Stanford was led by McCall (8 points,) Samuelson (7 points,) and Smith (7 points.) Ruthy Hebard found herself in foul trouble, collecting her third personal foul with 2:30 remaining in the half.

Stanford came out on fire to start the 3rd quarter, at one point scoring 7 consecutive points. The largest margin of the quarter was 15 points on a 3 and a layup by Roberson and a 3 by McCall. The Ducks were able to chip away at the lead, eventually getting it down to 7 on the backs of Lexi Bando, Ionescu, and Jacinta Vandenberg. Marta Sniezek, Dijonai Carrington, and Smith were able to push the lead back up to 12 to end the quarter. Oregon found itself facing a 57-45 deficit going into the fourth quarter.

Stanford blew the game wide open to start the fourth quarter, as Smith scored 6 points and Roberson 5 to grow the lead to 19. Oregon was never able to recover from that deficit. Oti Gildon, Ionescu, and Morgan Yaeger led the way for the Ducks in the quarter. Up next the Lady Ducks face #20 Cal at 1 PM in Berkely.