The Oregon Ducks women’s basketball season has been a bumpy ride and after their close win over California Friday night, head coach Kelly Graves didn’t have many kind words for his team.
It was uncharacteristic for Graves and the tactic seemed to have worked.
The Ducks played the game of their lives and nearly defeated No. 2 Stanford, but the Cardinal came away with a 66-62. It would have been Oregon’s first-ever win over an AP Top 2 team.
As great teams do, they find a way to get it done and Stanford did just that despite being down for the vast majority of the game. Haley Jones took over the fourth quarter and scored 10 of her 18 points to lead the Cardinal.
One the other side of the floor, it was Te-Hina Paopao doing her best to keep the Ducks in the lead. She scored eight of her 23 points in the final 10 minutes.
What ultimately did in the Ducks was a 4:30 scoring drought at the worst possible time that allowed Stanford to climb back into the game and win it.
Now Oregon will try to bounce back after this disappointing loss with a trip to the Mountain schools to end the end regular season.