Rob Mosely
GoDucks.com
EUGENE — Up three at halftime, the Oregon women’s basketball team broke open Monday’s second-round WNIT game in the third quarter, on the way to a 78-53 victory over Rice before 2,591 fans in Matthew Knight Arena.
The Ducks (19-14) were up 41-38 early in the third before closing out the quarter on a 16-2 run, including nine points from freshman Grace VanSlooten. She scored 13 of her 17 points in the second half, helping the UO women follow up Friday’s first-round blowout of North Dakota State with another comfortable win Monday.
“At halftime Kelly (Graves) came in and just said we need to turn this around,” VanSlooten said. “He knew we looked like a different team than we had (Friday), and we all knew that too. So I think we went out there and really picked up our defense, and that obviously leads to our offense.”
Endyia Rogers followed up her triple-double in the first round with 19 points, seven rebounds and three assists Monday, and Te-Hina Paopao hit four more three-pointers on her way to 17 points, with seven rebounds and five assists. The Ducks held Rice to 21.6 percent shooting (8-of-37) in the second half, with Phillipina Kyei blocking nine shots to flirt with a triple-double, as she added nine points with 15 rebounds.
“Coach always tells me to protect the paint,” Kyei said. “So I think I did a good job of that, and I’m willing to do more of that.”
How It Happened: Paopao’s torrid shooting over the last month continued Monday right from the outset — she hit two three-pointers as Oregon raced out to an 11-3 lead. She then completed a three-point play for a 14-7 lead, but Rice made a couple of late threes to get within 18-17 after one quarter.
The Owls kept up that momentum early in the second, opening the period with a 9-4 run to lead 26-22. That was the only stretch of the game in which the Ducks trailed, and consecutive threes from Paopao got them back in front, 28-26. Kyei scored to make it an 8-0 run, and the Ducks got late buckets from Chance Gray and Rogers to go into halftime up 34-31.
VanSlooten and Paopao scored during a 6-0 run out of halftime, before Rice closed back within three at 41-38. That’s when the Ducks dropped the hammer, allowing just one more field goal over a span of 8:10 from midway through the third until early in the fourth. VanSlooten led the way during the 16-2 run to close out the third, and she scored again to open the fourth.
Ahlise Hurst hit two threes in the fourth, one of them during a 10-0 run that put Oregon up 72-46. Rice ended that run with a single free throw, but the Ducks kept up the pressure with buckets from Hurst and Gray on their next two possessions to build their biggest lead of the night, 76-47.
Notable: Freshman post Kennedy Basham sat out again due to concussion symptoms but has begun working out, Graves said. … The Ducks have reached the third round of the WNIT for the fourth time, and for the first time since 2016. … The Ducks are one win away from their seventh straight 20-win season, not counting the pandemic-abbreviated 2020-21 season. … Rice got five points Monday from guard Dominique Ennis, younger sister of former UO men’s basketball player Dylan Ennis.
Quotable:
UO coach Kelly Graves on what changed after halftime
“I thought defensively we amped it up. They only had one turnover at half and we had nine, and we turned that around — they had eight and we only had three that second half. But yeah, I thought the defense is what did it early, especially in the third quarter. And we’ve shown that when we can guard and make things happen and get out in transition, we’re pretty good. And we were.”
UO freshman Grace VanSlooten on coming back from a late-season injury
“Obviously coming off an injury, it’s hard to get right back into your routine and get back to normal. So that took a while. But coming off (Friday), that win, that felt good. And then Kelly also spoke to me directly (at halftime) and just told me that I gotta come in a different player. So I did.”
Up Next: The Ducks will host San Diego in the third round at Matthew Knight Arena on Thursday at 6 p.m.