Duck’s women’s basketball suffered their fourth loss in a row last night against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, 65-60.
Oregon started well enough and led after the first 10 minutes, 14-11. They fell off
in the second quarter, only shooting 23.5% to 47% for Minnesota. The cracks started to appear when the Gophers asserted themselves inside and dominated the paint.
The Ducks were down by three at the half and briefly had the lead back in the middle of the third period. Minnesota retook the lead by asserting themselves inside again and hitting 83% on their free throws.
Oregon fell apart in the fourth quarter. The Ducks could not stop an 11-0 run by the Gophers to start the quarter and were still down by 12 with a little over 2.5 minutes to play in the game. To their credit, Oregon battled to being three points down.
The hole was too large, however, and it was fitting that Minnesota’s tallest player hit points inside to seal the deal for the Gophers.
Katie Fiso was mysteriously absent in the fourth quarter, only playing five minutes in the period. She did not score any points, and in fact only scored two points in the entire second half. In the postgame presser below, Graves explains the decision.
Oregon only shot 32% on the game, while Minnesota shot almost 44%. Mia Jacobs, Ehis Etute, and Ari Long led the Oregon scorers with 11 points each.
Ultimately, the Ducks could not match up well with Minnesota’s taller players, and that mismatch resulted in 46 points in the paint for the Gophers to just 16 for the Ducks. While head coach Kelly Graves can lament a handful of possessions that could have made some of the current losses go the other way, the fact of the matter is that Oregon does not have the inside presence that most of the other Big Ten teams have.
Here is what Graves had to say after the game:
Sofia Bell and Ari Long added these thoughts:
Oregon (14-7, 2-6 Big-10) has eight games left to get the six wins needed to get 20 wins on the season. They have a chance to get to 20 and make the NCAA tournament, but they very much needed wins against Wisconsin and Minnesota. They absolutely have to defeat Penn State (7-13, 0-9 Big-10) on Saturday to maintain their goal of a second Dance in as many years.
