By Aiden Hess
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The No. 16 ranked Oregon Women’s Basketball team started their San Diego Invitational Tournament journey off with a massive victory over the No. 17 ranked Arkansas Razorbacks Tuesday afternoon at Pechanga Arena by a score of 85-78. Oregon began the game still in search of their first win over a ranked opponent, the Razorbacks proved to be a perfect opportunity to do so. In a game that was tightly contested from tip-off to the final buzzer, the Ducks pulled ahead late and handed Arkansas its first loss of the season and notching the 200th win in the coaching career of Oregon Head Coach Kelly Graves.
The Ducks were able to rally behind freshman forward and leading scorer Grace VanSlooten. VanSlooten scored a career high 26 points on 10 of 19 shooting to lead her team to victory along with guard Endiya Rogers who added 20 points of her own. Arguably Oregon’s best player, Te-Hina PaoPao returned to her home county, but struggled early on as she failed to dent the scoreboard in the first half. However, she made a big impact in the second, Paopao finished the day with 12 points while knocking down three 3-point shots in critical moments of the ballgame. Oregon relied heavily on their starters as 3 of 5 logged minute totals over 30 and only using eight different players in the winning effort.
The Razorbacks jumped out to a seven point lead late in the third quarter and it felt as though the game was starting to slip away from the Ducks just a bit. Arkansas shot an eye-popping 31 attempts from deep, but made 12 of them all in key moments. The Ducks battled back thanks to a 30 point fourth quarter outing, outscoring the Hogs by 11 in the frame and overcoming the 4 point deficit they faced after three quarters of play.
Following the win, Oregon is set to take on another unbeaten team in the No. 3 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes tomorrow at 3:30 PST for the championship game. The Buckeyes survived an upset bid from unranked South Florida in overtime 88-86, erasing a nine point halftime deficit.