It’s a game that was there for the taking.
The Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team is going to look at film on this game and kick themselves as they let a huge upset over No. 18 Oregon State slip away. But it was the Beavers that escaped Matthew Knight Arena with a 64-60 win in front of 8,602 fans.
Not a whole lot has gone right for the Ducks this season, but they found themselves down just one at 54-53 with 4:30 left in the contest. But the Beavers took advantage of some huge holes in Oregon’s 2-3 zone to go on an 8-2 run in two minutes to pull away.
Phillipina Kyei led the Ducks with 16 points and 18 rebounds, while Grace VanSlooten added 14 points. Chance Gray poured in 15 points on 6-of-15 from the field.
Timea Gardiner had a career-high 19 points for the Beavers with Raegan Beers adding 14 and Talia Von Oelhoffen scoring 10 points. But it was Lily Hansford’s two long-range bombs on consecutive possessions late in the game that was too much for the Ducks to overcome.
Hansford shoots over 50 percent from the three-point line and somehow she was the one left open in the zone and the left-hander knocked down the big shots.
Oregon State threatened to run the Ducks out of the building early as they took a 26-15 lead in the second quarter. Oregon’s offense wasn’t hitting on any cylinders and the Beavers were finding their way. But a 10-0 Duck run towards the halftime break brought them back into the contest and it was just 30-25 OSU after 20 minutes of action.
With the loss, the Ducks now have a losing overall record at 11-12. Oregon State continues its hot play as it improves to 18-3 overall and 7-3 in Pac-12 play.
It’s not going to get any easier for the Ducks as they now travel to the Mountain schools with No. 6 Colorado next on the docket on Friday.