Oregon women hold on to defeat California and snap two-game losing streak
Oregon and California played through 30 lead changes and 12 ties Friday night, but it was the Ducks who held the advantage last.
Oregon scored the final six points to pull away for a 78-73 Pac-12 women’s basketball victory at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, snapping a two-game losing streak for the Ducks while also extending their winning streak against the Golden Bears to eight games.
“No. 1, we really needed that, as you well know," Oregon coach Kelly Graves said on his postgame radio show. "No. 2, Cal played a heck of a game. I thought both teams did. It was contested, it was close the whole way but it was really nice to see our Ducks make the plays down the stretch.”
Oregon (14-6, 5-4 Pac-12) trailed 73-72 with 1:28 to play when Te-Hina Paopao made a jump shot to give the Ducks the lead.
A free-throw by Phillipina Kyei put Oregon up 75-73 with 34 seconds left. Chance Gray also made a pair of free throws with 20 second left and Endyia Rogers added one last free throw as the Ducks extended their lead while the Golden Bears (10-10, 1-8) missed on their final five shots from the field.
Grace VanSlooten led the Ducks with 20 points and nine rebounds before fouling out with 1:53 to play. It was a nice bounce-back performance for the freshman forward who played through some nagging injuries the past few weeks.
In Oregon’s losses to Washington State and Oregon State, VanSlooten was a combined 3-21 for 13 points, including a season-low three points on 1-for-11 shooting against the Beavers last Friday.
She went 8-for-15 from the field against Cal for her fifth 20-point game of the season.
“Grace looked like the Grace of old, who we’ve been missing since she’s been injured,” Graves said.
Rogers also finished with 18 points and five assists, Paopao had 13 points and five rebounds, Kyei had 11 points and eight rebounds, and Gray scored 12 and went 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. The freshman guard has made 32 straight free throws.
Oregon struggled from the 3-point line, however, as it made a season-low 15.8% on 3-of-19 shooting.
Still, Graves praised his players ability to grind out a victory, especially during a stretch where the Ducks had just one win in their last four games prior to Friday.
“You know, it’s really funny, we’ve not been in this position and we sometimes don’t know how to handle it,” Graves said. “We’ve always been the hunted, at least over the last six or seven years, and we’re not right now. We’re just trying to find ourselves and trying to scratch out any win.”
Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com.
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Up Next
Oregon at No. 3 Stanford
1 p.m., Sunday at Maples Pavilion, Stanford, Calif. TV: Pac-12 Networks. Radio: KUGN-FM (98.1); KUGN-AM (590)
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon Ducks defeat California in Pac-12 women's basketball game
