WNIT: Oregon Rolls Past NDSU on Rogers Triple-Double
Oregon hosted the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament at Matthew Knight Arena against North Dakota State. The Ducks women’s basketball team got off to a hot start hitting better than 80 percent from the floor. The first quarter was evenly matched with Oregon and NDSU. After the first ten minutes of play, the Ducks led by four points at 19-15.
The second quarter started well for Oregon but saw a stretch of four turnovers in just over four minutes for the Ducks. North Dakota State also had the turnover bug committing four turnovers in a five-minute period. Oregon was able to find their shots in the second quarter to push their lead going on a 20-2 run over the final 8 minutes of the quarter while holding NDSU to hitting just one of their ten shots over the same time span.
Oregon took a 41-22 lead into the locker room at the half.
In the opening 20 minutes of play, the Ducks had 11 assists, 5 steals, and 4 blocked shots. The Ducks also had 18 defensive rebounds.
Te-Hina Pao Pao led the way in the first half with 10 points for Oregon. In the third quarter, she added 14 points pushing the Ducks’ field goal percentage over 50 percent for the game. The Ducks through 30 minutes also shot better than 50 percent from three-point range extending their lead over North Dakota State.
In the final quarter, it was Pao Pao and Endyia Rogers who stood out. Rogers in the end had a triple-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists and admitted that she could have taken the final two shots, but leaned on her teammates to achieve the feat.
It has been quite a while since a triple-double was the norm for an Oregon player. Of course, Sabrina Ionescu comes to mind when she played for Oregon before heading to the New York Liberty. It was good to see the team playing this well after nearly two weeks off and beginning a post-season tournament.
Oregon won the game 96-57 over North Dakota State moving on to the second round of the WNIT. The Ducks will host another home game on Monday Night welcoming Rice to Matthew Knight Arena. Tip time is set for 6 pm Pacific Time.
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