EUGENE, Ore. —Santa Clara drained 16 3-pointers, going 12-for-15 in the first half, on its way to defeating Oregon Saturday afternoon at Matthew Knight Arena, 89-50.
The Broncos caught fire from deep early in the game, hitting on 8-of-10 tries from range in the first quarter and going 4-for-5 in the second. Santa Clara put together a 25-0 run that spanned the first two quarters in building a 55-30 lead at the break. Twelve of Santa Clara’s 21 made field goals in the half came from behind the 3-point line.
“Hats off to Santa Clara,” said head coach Kelly Graves. “They played great, they earned it, they deserved it. I’ve never seen a team shoot like that, certainly against us, before. But it was more than the shooting.”
Santa Clara finished the game 16-for-28 (57.1 percent), seeing six Broncos make at least one trey. Tess Heal led all players with 21 points, going 9-of-13 from the field (2-for-2 from 3). Oliva Pollerd and Marya Hudgins each connected on four 3s to lead Santa Clara, scoring 20 and 16 points, respectively.
The Ducks were unable to match Santa Clara’s 3-point shooting effort, as UO shot 23.1 percent (5-for-21) from deep. Chance Gray (11) and Sofia Bell (10) were the only Ducks to score in double figures.
Santa Clara forced 13 Oregon turnovers and out-rebounded the Ducks, 40-30.
How It Happened: Santa Clara’s offense got rolling early, hitting 8 of its first 10 3-point tries and finishing the first half shooting 80.0 percent from 3-point range (12-for-15). Oregon saw the Broncos go on a 25-0 run over the first and second quarters, as Santa Clara took a 25-point lead into halftime.
The hole proved to be too large for the Ducks, who never led after the four-minute mark of the first quarter. UO produced 20 points in the second half, with only six coming in the fourth.
“We didn’t play well, we didn’t coach well,” Graves said. “There’s not a lot to it. This is a game we are going to flush in the toilet and hopefully learn from it. We’ve got to move on.”
Notable: The loss snapped Oregon’s 16-game home winning streak against nonconference teams … The loss was the Ducks’ second over their last 62 home nonconference games … The 16 3-pointers made by Santa Clara tied for the fifth-most allowed by a UO team since at least 1999-2000, and the most since Weber State made 16 3s in 2017.
Up Next: The Ducks begin a three-game road swing Tuesday at Nevada (6:30 p.m., Mountain West Network).
