Oregon State tops Oregon 67-60 in Civil War
The Civil War outcome in Corvallis, Oregon was disappointing for fans of the Oregon Ducks, because the women’s team was dominated in the final four minutes and lost 67-60 to the Oregon State Beavers. After winning their first three meetings in the Paul Westhead era, the Ducks have lost their past two Civil War games. Oregon State’s sturdy defense was showcased yesterday, as the team that allows just 58 points per game held the Ducks to a 41.5 eFG%.
Star guard Ali Gibson led Oregon State with 23 points on 8-15 shooting, including five three-pointers on 12 attempts. She added three steals and three assists for a +19 EFF. The Oregon Ducks had their star back, and Amanda Johnson played 21 minutes off the bench and connected on 7 of her 13 shots. She also added eight rebounds and two steals. Her 16 points led the team, and she was easily their best player in this game (+17 EFF).
Ariel Thomas continued her poor run of play yesterday and was just 2-11 (2-7 from behind the arc) in another inefficient outing (-3 EFF). Point guard Nia Jackson was solid with 12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 assists (+13 EFF). For Oregon State, Patricia Bright had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds, and she also blocked four shots.
The Ducks led by eight points at one point in the second half, and they held a 57-53 advantage with 3:51 left. The Beavers then proceeded to hit three three-pointers in an 11-0 scoring run, and the Ducks did not score until there were 28 seconds left.
11:11 had some importance for the Ducks, because Johnson returned from a fractured thumb injury she suffered on the 11th of December. She missed 11 games because of the injury, but she showed no ill-effects from the injury in her performance yesterday in Corvallis.
There were 16 lead-changes in this game, and most of the action came in a memorable second half (for the Beavers, at least). The Ducks shot 43.8% in the second half after a putrid 27.3% mark in the first half. Both teams had 36 rebounds, but points off of turnovers were the difference in this game. Oregon State scored 22 points off of 17 Ducks’ turnovers, while the Ducks managed to score just 10 points off of 18 Beavers’ turnovers.
The Beavers eFG% was 53.7%, and they are one of the most efficient teams in the conference. The Ducks are now 11-10 and 3-6 in the conference, while the Beavers have a 13-7 record after this Civil War victory.
Oregon State played at a slow pace with just under 70 possessions and averaged .96 points per possession. The Oregon Ducks had 73 possessions and were faster in their approach- not a surprise, given Paul Westhead’s style- but they averaged just .82 points per possession. That’s terrible, and the gap in efficiency shows that the Beavers were the better team overall.
The Oregon Ducks will look to get revenge in round two of the Civil War after blowing the final four minutes of the first round. If this game was any indication, bouncing back is no problem for these Ducks. They recovered from a dismal, to put it kindly, first-half shooting performance to take an eight-point lead in the second half. With Amanda Johnson back, the Ducks offense will have better games than this and will get back to their November form.
MVP: Ali Gibson
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