TEMPE, Ariz. — With a wild rally in the final two minutes, the Oregon women’s basketball team nearly wiped away a decade of futility in the desert.
But not quite.
Oregon cut a 14-point second-half deficit to two in the closing seconds, but Arizona State held on for a 73-68 victory Thursday night, handing the Ducks their first Pac-10 loss of the season.
“They were fighting as hard as they could in the last three minutes,” UO coach Paul Westhead told KUJZ-FM afterward. “I was proud of their effort at the end.”
It was Oregon’s 11th consecutive loss in Tempe, dating back to 2000.
Overall, Arizona State has won 10 straight over the Ducks, and 17 of the past 19 in the series.
Trailing by 14 points with about nine minutes left, and still trailing 65-55 with 1:41 to go, Oregon (12-4, 3-1 Pac-10) rallied.
UO reserve Kristi Fallin started the 13-5 run with a three-pointer with 1:26 left, cutting the ASU lead to seven.
After two ASU free throws, UO senior guard Micaela Cocks hit a jumper and Amanda Johnson hit with a step-back three to cut the UO deficit to 67-63 with 37 seconds left.
Becca Tobin added one free throw for the Sun Devils before Oregon’s Nia Jackson raced upcourt for a layup to bring the Ducks within 68-65 with 31 seconds to play.
Following two more ASU free throws, and one by Jackson, Oregon pulled within 70-68 on a Johnson layup with 16 seconds left.
The Ducks wouldn’t get any closer.
ASU’s Kayli Murphy, who was 11-for-12 from the line for all 11 of her points, hit two more free throws, and Johnson and Cocks each missed three-pointers in the final seconds.
Cocks and Jackson finished with 15 points each, plus six steals and 10 turnovers between them.
The Ducks finished with 25 turnovers, compared with 27 for Arizona State.
“That’s unusual for us,” Westhead said. “We couldn’t settle into our offense. … I just felt we weren’t in our normal sync.”
Oregon’s Taylor Lilley had 14 points before fouling out late, and Johnson finished with 10.
Danielle Orsillo had 17 for ASU (10-6, 2-3).
Oregon played the final six minutes without starting forward Victoria Kenyon, who was assessed a flagrant foul and ejected after getting tangled up with ASU’s Kali Bennett.
“Our players are feeling bad now, but I explained to them that this is very early in the season,” Westhead said.
“We need to learn from our miscues and our errors; no one ever thought we were going to be perfect.”
Oregon has been far from that in Arizona in recent years.
After Thursday’s defeat, the Ducks have now lost 18 of 19 in Arizona.
They play the Wildcats at 1 p.m. PST Saturday in Tucson.
“We came to Arizona to win some basketball games,” Westhead said, “and there’s only one left to win in this state, so we better get after it on Saturday.”