Tag: grace vanslooten

Getting to know Kelly Graves’ Oregon Ducks ahead of the 2023 season tip-off

Oregon women’s basketball is led by three sophomores and they are surrounded with a Top 5 recruiting class for the 2023-24 season.

The Oregon Ducks women’s basketball program might still be haunted by that 2020 season when a national championship was in their grasp before the pandemic hit.

Kelly Graves has brought in great recruiting classes since but hasn’t been able to find the same success he enjoyed when Sabrina Ionescu was playing. Oregon might still be a year or two away from seriously contending to make a deep run in March, but that doesn’t mean they can’t make some noise in the meantime.

In the last season of the Pac-12, the conference schedule is a huge gauntlet and the Ducks will have to maneuver their way through. The talent is there to beat anybody. The big question surrounding this team is how quickly they develop chemistry and put it to good use on the floor.

Oregon has three tremendous sophomores and they have a Top 5 recruiting class to play with. If the Ducks gel as a team, they will finish a lot higher than predicted.

Oregon hosts North Dakota State in WNIT first round matchup

The Oregon women’s basketball team opens the WNIT with a home game with North Dakota State on Friday.

The Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team will continue their season Friday as they will host North Dakota State. Tip time is scheduled for 7 pm PST at Matthew Knight Arena.

If the Ducks win, they’ll play either BYU or Rice in the second round.

The Bison come to Eugene with an 18-11 record. They lost in the Summit League title game to Kansas City 71-64. Before that loss, NDSU had a winning streak of four straight.

Their leading scorer is Heaven Hamling, who averages 16.5 points, five rebounds and nearly four assists a game. She shoots 35 percent from the three-point line and 83 percent from the free-throw stripe.

The only other Bison player who averages in double figures is Elle Evans and her 13.3 points per contest. She happens to be the Bison’s tallest player at 6-foot-3 but is listed as a guard. She’ll be the toughest to match up with for the Ducks.

Oregon will have a major height advantage with 6-foot-8 Phillipina Kyei, 6-foot-7 Kennedy Basham, and 6-foot-3 Grace VanSlooten.

Broadcast information has not been announced yet.

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Pac-12 honors four Duck women’s basketball hoopers

Four Oregon women’s basketball players were handed some Pac-12 awards for their regular season performance.

With the Pac-12 women’s basketball regular season in the history books, the conference came out with its awards and four Ducks were honored.

Senior Endyia Rogers was named as an All-Pac-12 performer with Chance Gray and Grace VanSlooten both named to the All-Freshmen team. Point guard Te-Hina Paopao is an honorable mention. VanSlooten was also an honorable mention and Gray is on Pac-12 All-Defensive Team Honorable Mention.

Rogers collects her second straight all-Pac-12 honor at Oregon while being voted to the team for the third straight season overall (once at USC). The Dallas, Texas, product is averaging a career-high and team-leading 16.1 points per game while finishing second in the Pac-12 in scoring during conference play at 18.2 points a contest.

Paopao was an all-conference pick for the third straight season, as she was a first-team selection in 2021 and 2022. The junior guard from Oceanside, Calif., is averaging 11.9 points, four rebounds, and three assists. She has scored at least 20 points in her last three games, including a season-high 23 with a career-best seven three-pointers in the regular-season finale against Arizona State.

The Ducks begin the post-season Wednesday afternoon with a date with Washington in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas. Oregon must most likely defeat the Huskies to get into the NCAA tournament.

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Oregon WBB recap: Big second half crushes Devils in Tempe

The Oregon women’s basketball team overcame a slow first half and cruised past the Sun Devils 82-62.

It would be natural for the No. 18 Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team to look ahead a little bit toward Sunday’s game at Arizona. For the first 10 minutes of the game against Arizona State, it sure looked like that was exactly what was happening.

But after that slow start, the Ducks turned it on in the second half and defeated the Sun Devils 82-62 in Tempe.

Oregon moves to 12-3 overall and 3-1 in conference action while ASU dropped to 7-8 overall and is still looking for its first Pac-12 victory at 0-3.

The third quarter was the difference as the Ducks took just a 32-26 lead into halftime. But Oregon came out of the locker room on fire and outscored the Sun Devils 27-14 in that quarter and cruised from there.

Oregon WBB recap: Poor shooting and turnovers dooms Ducks vs UCLA

Oregon had to get hot from the field to shoot 42 percent for the game and it cost them as the Bruins win 82-74.

Sometimes the game of basketball can be broken down into the simplest of things. When Team A shoots a lot better than Team B, Team A is going to win the majority of the time.

That was the case inside Matthew Knight Arena as No. 10 UCLA shot the lights out and Oregon did not as the Bruins defeated the Ducks 82-74.

Oregon falls to 10-3 overall and 1-1 in conference action. UCLA improved to 13-1 overall and 2-0 in Pac-12 play.

For the game, the Bruins shot 46 percent from the field, including 9-of-24 from three-point land. The Ducks were just 6-of-17 from long range.

Turning the ball over 20 times didn’t help Oregon’s cause either.

UCLA locked down Oregon on the defensive side of the floor and concentrated mainly on Te-Hina Paopao and Grace VanSlooten. The Ducks’ offense was out of whack for a lot of the game and even with a late rally, Oregon had dug itself too much of a hole to come all the way back.

Oregon WB recap: Ducks blow right by the College of Charleston

Oregon got off to a hot start offensively and cruised past the College of Charleston 97-33.

Oregon Ducks women’s basketball coach Kelly Graves wanted his team to get out to a better start than it did in the last game against Eastern Washington.

The Ducks took his message to heart and pounded the College of Charleston.

Oregon started the game on a 26-5 run and then easily cruised past the Cougars 97-33. It’s the second straight game that the Ducks held the opponent to just five points in a quarter.

It was evident as the game went along, the College of Charleston was running out of gas after traveling 3,000 miles across the country from South Carolina.

Oregon moves to 9-1 on the season and will now go to San Diego to face Arkansas in the San Diego Invitational on Tuesday.

Oregon WBB recap: Duck defense too much for EWU to handle

Oregon locked down on the defensive side of the floor and crushed Eastern Washington 88-38.

It was clear early on the game plan for the contest against Eastern Washington was defense and then some more defense

The Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team held the Eagles to just 10 points in second and third quarters combined and the No. 16 team in the country came away with an 88-38 win.

Now at 8-1, the Ducks have just four more non-conference game left before the Pac-12 schedule ramps up. With this defensive effort, coach Kelly Graves should be able to sleep a little better knowing his team is up to the task.

It was a big-time team effort offensively as Oregon had six players in double figures and three of those had double-doubles for the night. Grace VanSlooten’s 26 points and 10 rebounds led the way.

Oregon WBB recap: Ducks’ upset bid vs UNC comes up short at PK85

North Carolina’s big third quarter and overall experience were too much for the Ducks to overcome in the 85-79 loss at the PK85.

Oregon Ducks women’s basketball coach Kelly Graves was concerned after his team’s close victory over Southern Utah a few days ago. He didn’t know how they would respond against stiffer competition.

Although the No. 18 Ducks came up short 85-79 to No. 8 North Carolina, the effort was definitely there and it’s a game the young Oregon team wins later in the season.

The Ducks held a double-digit lead in the second half, but a 17-4 run to end the third quarter brought the Tar Heels back and UNC actually had a 56-56 lead with 10 minutes to go.

Coming out for the fourth quarter, the Ducks went on a 10-2 run and had a 66-58 lead, but then North Carolina’s experience took over and the shots for the Ducks stopped dropping. Those 18 turnovers didn’t help matters as Oregon lost for the first time this season.

Ducks WBB recap: A strong defensive third quarter secures victory

A win is a win, but the Oregon women’s basketball team was hoping for a better fourth quarter in the 66-54 victory over S. Utah.

That halftime talk from head coach Kelly Graves must have been interesting, to say the least. The Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team got defensive in the second half and defeated Southern Utah 66-54.

Oregon outscored the Thunderbirds 24-8 in the third quarter after a lackluster first half where the Ducks were up just 10 at halftime.

It’s a good thing Oregon built up a good lead because the fourth quarter wasn’t a pretty one for the home team. Southern Utah claimed a 21-7 advantage for the remaining 10 minutes of the game, which won’t make Graves too happy.

Competition is going to ramp up in a big way come Thursday as the Ducks will open up the PK85 Invitational with No. 13 North Carolina on Nov. 24 and then either No. 8 Iowa State or Michigan State Nov. 27.

Oregon WBB recap: Freshmen lead the way in rout over Seattle U

Oregon women’s basketball used a big second half to rout Seattle 90-47 for their second win of the season.

It’s a busy day of sports on the University Oregon campus and the Ducks women’s basketball team got off to a good start with a 90-47 win over Seattle.

Later in the day, rugby hosts Washington and then the biggie comes at Autzen Stadium with the No. 6 Ducks face No. 23 Washington in the Pac-12 game of the week.

Inside Matthew Knight Arena, Kelly Graves’ team started slowly, but after 15 minutes of play, Oregon picked it up to blow out the Redhawks. Perhaps it was the 11 a.m. tip time and the coffee hadn’t kicked in yet.

Once the caffeine settled in, so did the Ducks. They overwhelmed the RedHawks and outscored the visitors 48-22 in the second half.

Freshmen Grace VanSlooten and Jennah Isai led the way with 16 and 15 points, respectively.