Berkeley, California

Ducks 105 - Golden Bears 82

The Oregon Ducks (22-1, 11-0) defeated the California Golden Bears (14-8, 5-6) thanks to big games from Satou Sabally and Sabrina Ionescu.

Oregon once again built a quick lead in the opening minutes of the game, sprinting to an early 12-0 lead at Haas Pavilion. Ionescu’s return to California brought out a strong Oregon contingent, but the Cal fans came to see Kristine Anigwe surpass Colleen Galloway as Cal’s all-time leading scorer, a feat that she would need a single point to accomplish.

And that historic point would come on the second attempt at a free throw with 6:38 left in the first. From then on, the Golden Bears stepped up their offensive game, due in part to the benching of Ruthy Hebard after a couple of quick fouls.

Anigwe proved much more effective against Oti Gildon as the Golden Bears began to claw their way back into the game. Receé Caldwell helped increase the area of attack by draining three triples in the first half, and at the 5:12 mark in the second quarter, Cal took a 32-30 lead with a Kianna Smith three-pointer- the home team’s first lead of the game.

Oregon answered California’s 12-4 run by finishing the half with a 14-4 run of their own. Ionescu and Sabally spearheaded the Ducks’ offense early on by scoring 17 and 10 points, respectively, and the Ducks built an eight point lead going into the half.

Vintage Chip Kelly would’ve been proud of these Ducks, as they took a comfortable halftime lead and morphed it into a blowout victory. An eight-point lead turned into a 15-point lead by the end of third once the Ducks began to hit their long-range shots (six total triples in the third quarter) and the Golden Bears simply could not keep up with the nation’s highest-scoring team.

Sabally led all scorers with her 31 points and Ionescu finished with 27. Sabally was especially lethal from three-point land, hitting six of her eight attempts, and scored in double-digits for the 19th time this season.

Maite Cazorla scored 17 points and Erin Boley finished with 11 points, but Hebard struggled to find her rhythm after missing most of the first half.

This is Oregon’s sixth time this season finishing with over 100 points. The Ducks’ next three games will be especially challenging, as they face off against #11 Stanford, then play back-to-back games against #7 Oregon State.

OREGON DUCKS

*Satou Sabally (38 min) 31 PTS - 9 REB - 3 AST - 5 STL - 10/15 FG - 6/8 3PT - 5/5 FT

*Sabrina Ionescu (37 min) 27 PTS - 5 REB - 3 AST - 2 STL - 10/15 FG - 3/4 3PT - 4/4 FT

*Maite Cazorla (36 min) 17 PTS - 1 REB - 9 AST - 6/8 FG - 2/3 3PT - 3/4 FT

*Erin Boley (26 min) 11 PTS - 3 REB - 4/10 FG - 3/8 3PT

*Ruthy Hebard (23 min) 8 PTS - 3 REB - 1 AST - 4/5 FG

Oti Gildon (25 min) 8 PTS - 3 REB - 1 STL - 1 BLK - 3/6 FG - 2/3 FT

Lydia Giomi (5 min) 2 PTS - 2 REB - 1/3 FG

Taylor Chavez (8 min) 1 REB - 0/1 FG

Morgan Yaeger (2 min) 1 AST

CALIFORNIA STARTERS

Kristine Anigwe (35 min) 23 PTS - 18 REB - 2 AST - 9/18 FG - 1/3 3PT - 4/5 FT

Receé Caldwell (37 min) 22 PTS - 1 REB - 7 AST - 8/15 FG - 6/11 3PT

Kianna Smith (30 min) 20 PTS - 2 AST - 7/14 FG - 5/6 3PT - 1/2 FT

Asha Thomas (26 min) 5 PTS - 1 REB - 2 AST - 2/4 FG - 1/3 3PT

Jaelyn Brown (17 min) 2 PTS - 2 REB - 1/3 FG - 0/1 3PT

GO DUCKS!

NEXT UP: STANFORD

2/10, Sunday, 1 PM, ESPN2, Stanford