Smiles came easily at McArthur Court on Monday, as did points, and also victory for the home squad.
In a stark change from last season’s struggles, the Oregon women’s basketball team opened 2009-10 with an 86-48 win over Eastern Washington before 2,250 fans. The crowd, bigger than all but five of the 15 home crowds last season, saw the Paul Westhead era open with the Ducks’ highest point total in more than two years, and their largest margin of victory in nearly four.
“We haven’t had this feeling in a while,” said UO junior Nicole Canepa, who went on to illustrate just how much the landscape has changed for the program. “And honestly, that wasn’t our best out there at all. And we know that.”
If that’s the case, many more good things are to come for Oregon this season. On Monday, the Ducks mixed the hot shooting of Taylor Lilley, yeoman’s work in the post by Canepa and a combination of pressing and zone defense to post their biggest win since a 102-36 victory over Prairie View A&M on Dec. 10, 2005. Oregon’s 86 points matched their output against Arizona on Jan. 7, 2007.
Lilley had a career-high 28 points, and Canepa added her second career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Lilley nailed the first of her career-high seven three-pointers just five seconds into the game, and made three in a row in a span of 46 seconds of the second half, taking full advantage of Oregon fast-break pace under Westhead.
“I just don’t have that pressure of thinking, ‘Is this a good shot? Is this not a good shot?’ ” Lilley said. “It’s just a matter of getting into a rhythm. In the second half we were really able to push the ball, and that’s what created the open looks.”
Oregon pressed early on, and forced seven straight turnovers after the Eagles scored on their first possession. Amanda Johnson picked up her third foul less than eight minutes in, and a few minutes later the Ducks went to a zone that they mixed in for the rest of the game.
A combination of the zone and Oregon’s superior fitness level resulted in the Ducks’ shooting, defending, rebounding and holding on to the ball better in the second half. A lopsided advantage for Oregon at the free-throw line was the difference in an otherwise statistically even first half, but that changed after halftime.
“I kind of said to our players, we’re going to play people and we’ll eventually crack them if we run and press, run and press,” Westhead said. “Well, we didn’t really run and press real well in the first half, so therefore that team was able to hang around longer. But I think eventually it got to them.”
Point guard Nia Jackson had something of an off night with four points and four turnovers, and overcame a scary moment when she remained in the game after falling hard in the second half and grabbing her surgically repaired knee. Micaela Cocks added 14 points for the Ducks, and Victoria Kenyon grabbed a career-high nine rebounds.
“It feels really good,” Cocks said. “And what feels the best is that, you know, we didn’t play our best game. … That’s even better, to think we have still so far to go, and we were still able to win by that much.
“We made lots of little defensive mistakes, and we’ve still got to get over that fitness hump mentally so we can keep pressing and pushing the ball. To think that when we really understand how to push on through that, the sort of team we can be, is amazing.”
oregon 86, eastern washington 48
Key stat: Taylor Lilley established career highs with 28 points and seven made three-pointers, five in the second half.
Notes: Nicole Canepa’s 10 rebounds were her most since her career-high 14 at California two seasons ago. ... After a basket on its first possession, Eastern Washington had seven straight turnovers, helping Oregon build an 11-2 lead. ... The Ducks’ season-high point total in 2008-09 was 77, and their largest margin of victory was 20, both of which were exceeded Monday.
Next: The Ducks play at Montana on Sunday at 1 p.m. PST.
Boxscore: See Scoreboard, Page C4.