Under decidedly different circumstances than last week, Oregon was again able to empty its bench Thursday.
Five days earlier, the Ducks were blown out at Stanford, and used the game to get their reserves some minutes at the end. On Thursday, some of those same faces were again on the court for long stretches of the second half. But this time, Oregon did the blowing out.
A key week for the Oregon women's basketball team to gain some traction in the Pac-10 standings began in fine form, as the Ducks beat overmatched Washington State 64-45 before 2,468 fans in McArthur Court. Looming Saturday afternoon is Washington, another team looking to break out from the middle of the pack, and now the Ducks have some momentum after ending their two-game losing streak.
"We had to come out in this one with a lot of intensity and lot of grit, because obviously that's what we lacked in the Stanford game," UO guard Taylor Lilley said. "That's what we did. We had so much energy because we wanted to get that bad taste out of our mouths."
Lilley fired up eight field goals, finding open looks after failing to take a shot against the Cardinal last week. Her 2-of-6 three-point shooting was part of a 3-of-21 effort overall by Oregon from long range. But that was the only glaring problem area on the night for the Ducks, who improved to 9-8 overall, 3-3 in the Pac-10.
Oregon was 22-of-41 inside the arc, as its quartet of freshman forwards were the focal point of the offensive effort against the matchup zone of Washington State. Nicole Canepa had 12 points to lead the Ducks, and Ellyce Ironmonger added 10. Those two plus Victoria Kenyon and Ellie Manou combined for 36 points on 17-of-31 shooting, and contributed to a 46-32 rebounding edge.
And Canepa led a 31-point effort by Oregon's bench, topping the team's previous season high of 25 bench points in the loss to Stanford. Tamika Nurse had six assists against zero turnovers, while Nia Jackson and Tatianna Thomas each played double-digit minutes without letting the big lead slip away in the second half. Only two UO starters played more than 19 minutes.
"We feel comfortable when we play with each other, all the time," Jackson said of herself and the other reserves. "Because we're always together as a team in practice, so when it comes to the game you just know where each other is on the court."
Washington State shot 25.9 percent for the game, 14-of-54, as starters Katie Calderwood, Heather Molzen and Katie Appleton each hit one field goal and combined to go 3-of-27. The Cougars (3-14, 0-6) too often seemed to rush shots against Oregon's uptempo pressure, but WSU coach June Daugherty didn't have any complaints with their shot selection.
"We pretty much got every shot we wanted," Daugherty said. "You're going to have nights, that's basketball, where shots don't go. But that to me is a good step for us as far as execution, because we've struggled with that. Now the next part comes; you've got to knock them down."
With the Huskies having lost to Oregon State on Thursday, falling to 2-4, Oregon is now tied for fifth place in the Pac-10 with Southern California. A top-half placement at season's end would show sound progress for a team that leans heavily on its freshmen.
They won't often come as easy as they did Thursday, but more performances such as this one would help mightily in that effort.
"This is what we needed to get done," Lilley said. "We wanted this win, and we needed to get this win."