Coming off a rebound win on Sunday, Oregon women’s basketball (12-1) looked to start a new win streak against the Portland Pilots (5-6). In the second-to-last game before conference play for the Ducks, they forced 24 turnovers and had two players record double-doubles to set them up
Early in the first quarter, the Ducks applied some of their best full-court defense to the Pilots, forcing four early turnovers en route to seven in the first quarter that allowed them to jump out to a 7-0 lead.
Katie Fiso led the charge for Oregon offensively early on, scoring seven points on 3-for-4 shooting, while grabbing three rebounds and a steal. It was a nice bounce-back for her, having scored just 10 points in the Ducks’ previous contest.
On Portland’s side, they shot just 23 percent while hitting the foul limit and grabbing 12 boards, four of which were corralled by Rhyan Mogel.
The second quarter started with a bang, as Oregon went on a 9-0 run to extend its lead to 22 by the six-minute mark. Amina Muhammad shone, scoring an efficient 10 points.
“She’s a player that comes out with a lot of energy, a sense of urgency, too,” Fiso said of her teammate after the game. “She does a lot of the little things.”
On the other end of the court, the Ducks forced nine turnovers, six of them being steals.
Portland shot better in the second quarter, climbing to a field goal percentage of 44.4 percent, albeit still without a made 3-pointer. They committed nine turnovers, but stayed below the foul limit, which couldn’t be said about the Ducks.
Going into the second half, the Ducks led by 25. Portland finally broke out of its 3-point drought, making three in a row and going on an 11-4 run to cut the lead to 19.
Mia Jacobs went nuclear in the third quarter, scoring 17 points on 4-of-5 shooting from distance while grabbing six rebounds and committing two thefts. She got into foul trouble, however, but not before locking in her second straight double-double.
“The last several games, she’s really attacking the rebounds,” head coach Kelly Graves said after the game.
“I’m trying to emphasize that more,” Jacobs said in response to Graves. “I’m just trying to create more possessions for my team.”
On the defensive end, Oregon got four more steals, bringing the total to fifteen on the day.
In the fourth quarter, both benches got their time to shine, as Avary Cain hit her third 3-pointer of the day early on. Midway through, Fiso subbed back in and picked up her 10th and 11th assists to give herself a double-double before being subbed back out.
The Ducks were plagued by turnovers, however, as the Pilots’ Dyani Ananiev picked up three steals.
With about two minutes left, Graves subbed in Sammie Wagner, who made her first appearance of the year and immediately made an impact, blocking the Ducks’ only shot of the game.
Five Ducks hit double-digit scoring marks for the first time in over a month, with Jacobs leading the way with 21. Defensively, they finished with 16 steals, but just 14 turnovers.
The Ducks aren’t back home until the 29th against No. 6 Michigan, but you can catch them on ESPN on Sunday, December 21st, vs. Stanford at the Chase Center in San Francisco.