EUGENE, Ore. — Oregon battled all night and finally broke through to take its first lead in the fourth quarter Thursday night, but California made enough plays downthe stretch to fend off the Ducks and earn a 62-59 win at Matthew Knight Arena. Oregon (11-19, 2-15 Pac-12) led by as many as six in the fourth, getting 10 straight points from Chance Gray. Cal closed the game on a 12-3 run, as Ioanna Krimili matched Gray’s 10 fourth-quarter points, including six in its closing run, going 4-for-4 from the free throw line.“Disappointed. We had a chance,” said UO head coach Kelly Graves. “We had a chance and we just (had) a couple of stretches there late defensively, and you know, we had opportunities to win the game. I am really proud of our team, they played hard.”Gray led Oregon with 17 points, with 15 coming in the second half. Grace VanSlooten scored 14 to go with 11 rebounds and Phillipina Kyei finished with 10 points and 11 boards for her conference-leading 20th double-double of the season.The Ducks produced 25 made field goals to Cal’s 22, but the Bears knocked down 8-of-25 3-point attempts compared to 1-for-9 by Oregon. Krimili led all players with 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting (3-for-8 from 3-point range).“The areas where we were weak against them last time, we were much better this time,” Graves said. “We had 17 offensive boards but only six second-chance points. We just didn’t capitalize tonight on opportunities. We did a lot of good things tonight and I feel much better about our effort, but still a loss.”
How It Happened: Cal hit three 3-pointers in the game’s first four minutes, and a 9-0 run in which it hit four consecutive field goals created a 15-4 lead midway through the quarter. Out of a timeout, Oregon scored eight unanswered to trim the deficit to three, 15-12, and trailed by just four after 10 minutes.Kennedy Basham hit all three field goal tries in the quarter for a team-high six points. Krimili hit two 3-pointers and finished the quarter with six points to lead the Golden Bears. In the second quarter, neither side managed more than four straight points. UO did score the final four points of the half and trailed by five at the break, 33-28. Five Ducks got into the scoring column in the second quarter, with four apiece coming from Kyei and VanSlooten. Basham led Oregon with eight in the half while VanSlooten had a team-high eight rebounds. Krimili added five more and had 11 first-half points to lead all players. Oregon shot 36 percent to Cal’s 43 percent, with the Bears hitting on 6-of-15 3-point tries.UO scored the first four points of the second half and clawed back to tie the score at 42 after Gray knocked down a long 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer. The Ducks won the quarter 14-9, getting nine points from VanSlooten.The Ducks’ momentum carried into the fourth quarter, as Kyei and Gray combined to score four quick points to give Oregon its first lead of the game. Gray scored 10 straight points in helping UO to its largest lead, 56-50, with just over four minutes to go.Cal responded with a 10-1 run and finished the game by outscoring the Ducks 12-3, led by six points from Krimili in that span. Oregon went 3-of-7 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter, while the Bears were 5-for-6, with Krimili going a perfect 4-for-4.
Notable: Kyei registered her Pac-12-leading 20th double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds … Her 20 double-doubles move her into a sixth-place tie with Sabrina Ionescu on Oregon’s single-season double-double list, while her 28 career double-doubles are tied for ninth-most in program history … VanSlooten turned in her eighth double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Up Next: The Ducks finish the regular season and will honor three seniors on Saturday against No. 4 Stanford (2 p.m. PT, Pac-12 Network).
