Upon further review, Oregon might not have to play on the opening night of the Pac-10 tournament after all.
A check of the Pac-10 Conference tiebreaker procedures following the Ducks' 60-49 win over Oregon State on Saturday showed that, contrary to the beliefs of officials from Oregon and the conference — and yes, the media — there's still hope of a first-round tournament bye for the Ducks. If Washington loses to California this afternoon, Oregon would finish in a sixth-place tie with the Huskies and own the tiebreaker based on better overall winning percentage.
"We're ecstatic," UO coach Bev Smith said following Saturday's regular-season finale. "That's what we've been playing for the last couple weeks."
The Ducks (13-16, 7-11) have mostly taken care of business in that stretch, winning three of their last four entering the tournament. Ellie Manou scored a career-high 18 points against the Beavers before a season-best McArthur Court crowd of 3,414, and the Ducks pulled out a second straight tight game after a series of close losses earlier in the year.
Oregon State (11-18, 4-14) closed within two at 43-41 with 6:27 to go, but Manou answered with a midrange jumper. The Beavers then got within 50-47 before Oregon closed the game on a 10-2 run.
Based on Saturday's result and last week's win over UCLA, the Ducks seem to have put a series of heartbreaking losses earlier in the season behind them.
"We figured it out, didn't we?" UO point guard Tamika Nurse said. "We got over the hump. We didn't worry today, never looked up at the clock and said, ‘hey, it's a three-point game, here we go again.' We just came off a game where it was close and we pulled it out, so we never had that feeling."
The Ducks will take their new-found optimism into the conference tournament, which begins Friday. What they don't know yet — which they only discovered well after Saturday's game was complete — was that their opponent is still in question.
It was previously believed that Oregon was locked into the seventh seed, and bound for a first-round game Friday against last-place Washington State. Instead, the Ducks could be in line to earn the No. 6 seed and face third-place Arizona State on Saturday at 11 a.m. in the tournament quarterfinals, barring a UW upset of California today.
That wouldn't have remained a possibility if not for the Civil War win, which completed a season sweep for the Ducks. Manou came out with particular determination Saturday, scoring the game's first basket on her way to six points and five rebounds by halftime.
After the break, Manou made all six of her field-goal attempts, including two as Oregon closed the game by scoring on its final seven possessions. An injury to her left foot has hampered Manou throughout the season, but the freshman closed the regular season by scoring in double figures in back-to-back games for the first time.
"We have a good perimeter game, and that opened up the middle for us," Manou said. "I felt comfortable and in a rhythm. I was having fun."
Manou's energy was no more apparent than during a key moment in the second half after Oregon State had closed to within 39-36. She rebounded a miss on the OSU end, ran up the court and received one of senior Kaela Chapdelaine's eight assists for a basket. The Beavers answered with a field goal of their own, but Manou came right back down, took another pass from Chapdelaine and scored another two points.
As Oregon's lone active senior, Chapdelaine had the spotlight during Senior Day festivities prior to the game. Two hours later she was sharing it with Manou and the rest of the Ducks, celebrating the victory.
"It gives us momentum," Chapdelaine said. " ... We feel good about ourselves. We are playing well, and we can go far in the Pac-10 tournament."
Still to be determined, though, is when their participation in the tournament will begin.