Oregon Women’s basketball takes down second straight top-10 opponent

Oregon Women’s basketball is finding their identity at the right time. They have beaten Arizona and Connecticut, two Final Four teams from last year.

Monday saw the Connecticut Women’s Basketball team visit Matthew Knight Arena. They were down three starters and the Ducks found a way to not just pull away, but dominate much of the second half in a 72-59 win. UConn opened the game with a 10-0 run, but after that, it was all Oregon.

Tehina Paopao led the Ducks in scoring with 22 points. She also had 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Caroline Ducharme finished with  22 for Connecticut. For the game, Oregon forced 19 turnovers and committed just 12. While the benchmark for turnovers in a game is typically 10 points, 12 against a top ten opponent and an experienced UConn team is not bad, considering the Ducks held and won by double digits.

It was a game that Oregon not only needed to play, but also to win. The Ducks Women’s team has been hampered by opponents having issues with COVID-19 and not able to play games this season. The win certainly helps put the team back into the national conversation and the NCAA Tournament conversation.

With two top-ten wins, the NET rankings saw Oregon make quite a jump. While other teams in the country have played between 16 and18 games to this point, the Ducks have just 15 games played. They moved from 17th to 12th in this week’s NET rankings, which are used to help in seeding for the NCAA Tournament.

Nyara Sabally went down with a leg injury during the game, but she was seen walking slowly post-game. Head Coach Kelly Graves addressed the injury saying she did not see a doctor and appeared to be ok.

Oregon will get back to Pac-12 play later this week and visit Washington on Friday night. The Huskies have yet to win a Pac-12 game this season entering the matchup at 5-5. Tipoff is set for 7 pm on Pac-12 Network.