Oregon women’s basketball traveled to, and played against, Vermont for the first time ever in the history of the program. Head coach Kelly Graves had commented before the start of the season that Vermont was one of the few states that he had never coached a match in and was looking forward to this trip.
The Ducks rebounded from the loss earlier in the week against Grand Canyon, and rode a strong second half to come away with the win, 81-56.
The Catamounts paced Oregon in the first quarter, scored more
points than the Ducks in the second quarter, and Oregon went into halftime with just a three point lead.
Both teams shot over 50% in the first half. In the second half, however, the Ducks came out and executed better, and it has been the case in the early part of this season that Oregon has started slow in these first few games and then ramped up their game after the break.
“Another good second half,” said head coach Kelly Graves. “After halftime, the kids came out and executed our game plan a little bit better. We got a little bit more flow offensively, and had a couple players play really well.”
A major part of that game plan was feeding the ball to Ehis Etute. Vermont did not have anyone that could play effectively against her, and Etute went on to score another double-double with 26 points and 10 rebounds.
Graves said, “We were really trying to focus on getting the ball inside, and then she responded and had a great game.”
By the end of the third quarter, Oregon had a 20-point lead. In the period, the Catamounts landed just one bucket, a three-point shot, to go with eight points at the free throw line. They finished the second half shooting just under 16%, while the Ducks shot over 60%.
The leading scorer for Vermont was Catherine Gilwee with 17 points. The Catamounts had good ball control in this game, but Oregon had their way at the boards and outmatched Vermont on both sides of the court, especially in the second half.
Along with Etute, the other high scorers for the Ducks were Katie Fiso with 18 points and Mallory Heyer with 10 points and a team-leading three blocks. Oregon shot very well at the free throw line – 14 of 15 for 93.3%.
The Ducks will wrap up this first road trip of the season by heading as far NE into New England as they can, with a match tomorrow against the Maine Black Bears. Tomorrow’s match at Memorial Gymnasium in Orono, Maine, is another first for Oregon; their first trip to Maine and their first match against the Black Bears. The game will be played at 4:00 pm PT and can be seen on ESPN+.
