Written Story by Griffin Bowes
EUGENE, Ore. - The Oregon Ducks rode a stellar performance on both ends of the floor to a 90-47 win over the Seattle Redhawks. They are now 2-0 on the season, with their other win being a 100-57 beatdown of Northwestern. Seattle fell to 0-2, as they lost to a second straight Oregon school. The Ducks’ leading scorer was freshman guard Grace VanSlooten, who contributed with 16 points on 5-for-11 shooting from the field and 6-of-6 from the line. She also led the team with 9 rebounds. Fellow freshman Jennah Isai scored 15 points with 6 of those coming from behind the arc, and she claimed 6 rebounds. VanSlooten and Isai were only 2 of the 5 Oregon players to hit double figures, with Endyia Rogers scoring 15 points, Phillipina Kyai adding 14, and Te-Hina Paopao adding another 10. Paopao had a strong performance across the board, as she accounted for 7 rebounds (second to VanSlooten) and a team-best 4 steals.
The Ducks won the turnover battle decisively, forcing 21 turnovers and only committing 8. Oregon also had a huge advantage in second chance points, with 18 to Seattle’s 4. Their high number of successful put-backs might be a product of their offensive rebounding. They had 19 offensive boards to Seattle’s 11. Oregon also shot extremely well from 3 in the first half, making 5 of their 12 attempts from behind the arc. Their outside shooting cooled off in the second half, going only 2-for-9, but their 2pt shooting and defense were more than enough to compensate. Speaking of defense, the Ducks had 8 steals and 3 blocks in the second half. Seattle, on the other hand, had no steals and only one block during that time frame.
Considering the Ducks’ weak schedule strength in their first 4 games, it was imperative that they set a foundation early for how they were going to operate throughout the season. While Oregon has been dominant in their first two wins (both by 43 points), head coach Kelly Graves saw lots of room for improvement. In today’s contest, he was not satisfied with the level of effort and intensity in the second half. He also would have liked to see more production in the paint from the bigs, as a good percentage of Oregon’s points in the paint came from the guards driving in transition. However, he was pleased with the team’s balance, as well as the improvements on the defensive glass after the second quarter. Oregon will have two more games to work out the kinks, first against Southern next Monday and then against Southern Utah the following Monday. On Thursday, November 24th, they will drive up to Portland for a highly-anticipated matchup against #12 North Carolina.
Audio Story by Maddie Lang