The Oregon Ducks Women’s team ranked 5th in the country, keep hold of a perfect PAC-12 record beating 19th ranked Arizona State 77-71 in front of a packed Matthew Knight Arena. It was a nail-biter as ASU was red-hot from behind the arc in the closing minutes, making four three-pointers in the fourth quarter alone. Kelly Graves squad put the game to bed, behind 31 from Ionescu, just three points off her career high.

The first quarter was a back and forth affair with the Sun Devils coming out strong early making their presence known on the offensive end with 5 offensive rebounds. After a strong first six minutes for the Sun Devils, Charli Turner Thorne made an entire team substitution. While ASU took a strong lead, punishing the Ducks defense, Oregon capped off the quarter with a run of their own with an Ionesco three-pointer with eight seconds left. That trend would leak over to the second half with Ionesco shooting 5-9 with three three-points for a total of 13 points. While it was no means a dominating offensive performance from the Ducks who put up a staggering 91.1 points per game prior to tonight, they did begin to pull away in the second half with the half-time score being 38-29.

The second half started with much of the same from the first. ASU controlled the glass finishing the game with 36 rebounds. The 6-3 Senior, Charnea Johnson-Chapman, made her presence known inside finishing the game with 10 points and 9 rebounds. Throughout the second half, Oregon was happy to trade baskets in a slow-paced game yet that changed halfway through the fourth quarter as Hanson and Ibis for ASU drilled a pair of threes to complement a Johnson-Chapman fast break score to make it 65-63 Ducks with 4:23 to go. Ionesco responded when the Ducks needed her most, late in the fourth, finishing with a game-high 31 points. ASU made an impressive comeback pulling within one with just a minute left but a Cazorla step-back jumper and a pair of Ionesco free throws were enough for the Ducks to seal the win against a Sun Devils team who fall to 3-3 in conference play.

Up next: The Ducks take on Arizona on Sunday night at Matthew Knight Arena at 12 p.m. The Ducks will look to improve to 7-0 in conference play, and 17-1 overall.

Game Story (Michael Abbott)

Head Coach Kelly Graves

Sabrina Ionescu and Maite Cazorla