TUCSON, Ariz. - If the recent Oscar nominations had included categories from Thursday's Oregon women's basketball game at Arizona, Taylor Lilley and Ashley Whisonant would have been the candidates for best actress.
That the Wildcats won best picture rather than the Ducks, by a score of 65-60 in the McKale Center, would have been because Arizona had nominees for top supporting actress as well. Oregon had ... well, Lilley.
The Ducks' sophomore shooting guard kept Thursday's game close with her accuracy from outside, and Arizona's senior point guard dazzled in the second half to hold off hard-charging Oregon. But while the Ducks floundered during key stretches when Lilley wasn't scoring, the Wildcats got key contributions from forwards Ify Ibekwe and Amina Njonkou in support of Whisonant.
"We need two or three people in double figures so the defense stays honest," UO coach Bev Smith said. "We just didn't get that established tonight."
As a consequence, the Ducks (10-11, 4-6 Pac-10) have now lost three straight games entering Saturday's visit to Arizona State and next week's home games against Stanford and California. During the losing streak, Oregon has either led or trailed by as few as two points in the final four minutes of each game.
After Thursday's loss, Lilley described a silent UO locker room, unable to come to terms with its confounding lack of intensity. Arizona's desperation after winning just once in the first round of conference play was to be expected. What wasn't was Oregon's lack of grit, given two losses last week and the Pac-10's top three teams coming up in the next nine days.
"We had that for the past two games against USC and UCLA, which made those losses so hard," Lilley said. "And we just didn't have that fire out there today."
It showed mostly in Arizona's 36-26 rebounding advantage, in which the Ducks came up with just seven offensive boards. Lilley and Whisonant each scored 22 points, but the Wildcats also got 16 points and six rebounds from Ibekwe, and 11 points and eight rebounds from Njonkou.
Ibekwe and Njonkou combined for seven offensive rebounds, matching Oregon's team total. Ellie Manou and Ellyce Ironmonger, the Ducks' two leaders in minutes played at forward, each finished with one rebound.
"They were really athletic," Manou said. "We were always a step behind, collectively as a team."
Whisonant scored 20 of her 22 in the second half, and seven of the last nine for Arizona (8-13, 2-8). After Tamika Nurse hit two free throws with 43 seconds left to make it 62-60, Whisonant milked nearly 20 seconds off the clock before swooping in for a layin. Kaela Chapdelaine rushed a three-pointer at the other end, and Whisonant capped the Wildcats' win with a free throw.
"I knew we needed her to score," UA coach Joan Bonvicini said after Whisonant rebounded from a two-point first-half effort, on free throws with 22 seconds left. "She was as good a floor leader as I've seen her, ever."
Whisonant deferred to her forwards in the first half, taking advantage of a young Oregon front line that has struggled on offense but until Thursday had been mostly solid on defense. Ibekwe had 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the first half, and Njonkou had nine points.
Oregon led 28-25 on a Manou putback just before halftime, but Njonkou tied it with a putback of her own and a free throw. Following an Oregon turnover, Ibekwe scored and failed to complete another three-point play, but Njonkou rebounded the missed free throw and scored again.
"They kept getting (offensive boards) and then they would get their second-chance points off that," Lilley said. "That didn't do much for us, confidence-wise."
Lilley's desperation three-pointer just before the buzzer got Oregon within 34-31, but the Ducks didn't score again until Lilley made another three 5:20 into the second half. Arizona led 38-31 at that point, a gap Oregon spent the rest of the evening trying to close.
"This was a win that we definitely wanted and we needed, just for our confidence," Lilley said. "That's why this is another hard loss for us. We really needed this win, but I don't think we showed that we wanted it that bad out there tonight."