The No. 8 Oregon Women’s Basketball team (5-0) defeated the No. 15 Oregon State Beavers (3-2) by a score of 79 to 59 in Corvallis.
Freshman Te-Hina Paopao and Junior Taylor Mikesell put on a spectacular show, scoring 22 and 21 points, respectively. Though they were the only two Ducks to score in the double digits, Oregon’s tenacious defense resulted in a quick lead that the Beavers were unable to overcome.
Today's .
— Oregon Women’s Basketball (@OregonWBB) December 13, 2020
10 minutes away from opening tip on @Pac12Network. #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/qQVFmAivja
Paopao recorded her third consecutive game scoring at least 13 points and also reached a new career high. She finished 9-of-15 from the floor and helped maintain a high-pace offensive attack that buried the Beavers early.
Erin Boley and Nyara Sabally contributed mightily to Oregon’s rebound game, and in the first half the Ducks racked up 17 defensive rebounds to fuel their offensive onslaught spearheaded by the two new Ducks that were on a hot streak.
Mikesell hit five of Oregon’s nine first-half three-pointers and was a major reason why the Ducks were able to build a 45-24 lead at the half. She has quickly taken a leadership role on this team and currently has the highest season total of points scored at 70 (14 points per game), which isn’t easy considering how many play-makers Coach Graves has on this squad.
The rest of Oregon’s starters finished with a total of 20 points—eight points apiece from Taylor Chavez and Sabally, four from Boley—while the bench contributed 16 points and some meaningful playing time for a rotation that included Jaz Shelley (5 points), Angela Dugalic (4 points), a recovering Sedona Prince (4 points), Kylee Watson (2 points), Lydia Giomi (1 point), Sydney Parrish and Maddie Scherr.
Oregon State started to improve their shooting percentage in the second half, and even won the fourth quarter by outscoring the Ducks 18-to-12, but big performances from Taylor Jones (14 points) and Jelena Mitrovic (11 points) weren’t enough to keep this game from feeling like a blowout. Previous to this game, the Ducks had won just one time in Corvallis in the last ten years.
The Ducks cooled off from the three in the second half, but still finished at 50 percent (12-of-24). Overall, Oregon was just 44.3 percent (31-of-70) from the floor, but also held Oregon State to 35.6 percent (21-of-59) from the floor and 3-of-19 from downtown.
What’s scariest about this Oregon team is their defense, which scored 14 points off of OSU’s 11 turnovers, and is allowing an average of a measly 51.6 points per game to opposing teams. Graves seems to have the perfect blend of battle-tested veterans and fresh talents to maintain this Duck dynasty! Watch out, Stanford, Oregon Women’s Basketball isn’t going anywhere but the top!
GO DUCKS!
DUCKS WIN!
— Oregon Women’s Basketball (@OregonWBB) December 14, 2020
No. 8 Oregon improves to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in Pac-12 play with a dominant road win over No. 15 Oregon State!#GoDucks x @ncaawbb pic.twitter.com/bIvvy0ocpC
NEXT UP: @ washington
Saturday, PAC-12 Network