The Oregon Women’s Basketball team lost key members of the bench to transfer as they enter the 2018 season.
Last season, Mallory McGwire played a key role when Lexi Bando went down late in the year with an injury. She helped the team win some key games down the stretch and showed her size and strength with a shot from inside the key that appeared unstoppable. Of the four leaving, McGwire will be missed the most because of her presence inside.
McGwire transferred to Boise State with two years of eligibility remaining. As an Oregon Duck, she hit 52 percent of her shots in 75 games.
Sierra Campisano is also moving on from Oregon to Cal Poly. She started 35 games her Freshman season, but with the addition of key players in the Lineup last year she saw her games and minutes decrease substantially.
Aina Ayuso is the third player to leave the Oregon Ducks. She left to go back to Spain and has hired an agent since the Degree she was going after was not offered by the University of Oregon. She played well in 2017 and will be remembered for a game against Colorado in the Pac-12 Tournament where she broke to the basket leaving the defender well behind and wondering what went wrong. (She is still thinking about it, I’m sure.)
Anelli Maley is the fourth player transferring from the Oregon Ducks. She is headed to TCU. The former Duck played in 37 games and was a key player who found her shot from distance and hit it when the team needed it.
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All four players will be missed, but in an Offense where Star Players are your key players, the bench may not seem as important, but it is. Head Coach Kelly Graves did his best last season to have a rotation where everyone on the roster saw time in games where it allowed. The majority of the Transfers saw an average of 10 minutes per game..