EUGENE, Ore. — The Oregon women’s basketball team pushed its winning streak to three Monday as the Ducks won at Matthew Knight Arena, 67-37 over Southern in a Pac-12/SWAC Legacy Series game.The Ducks (7-3) held the Jaguars to 26.2 percent shooting and were plus-11 on the boards while outscoring Southern 40-18 in the paint and blocking eight shots. Phillipina Kyei had 16 points with a career-high 21 rebounds, two days after setting a new career high with 20 points in a win over Portland State. Chance Gray and Grace VanSlooten added 15 points and five assists each as the Ducks won for the third time in four days.“This has been a whirlwind,” UO coach Kelly Graves said. “I’m really proud of the team. I thought we showed out really well and got better with each game.”Monday saw the most complementary scoring for the Ducks of all three games during the winning streak. Ula Chamberlin scored seven points, Sofia Bell and Kennedi Williams each scored five and Kennedy Basham and Sarah Rambus scored two points each.
“This is what we have to do; we have to continue to get better,” Graves said. “We know who those big three are, and everybody else has got to execute and fill their roles.”How It Happened: After making four three-pointers in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s win over Portland State, Gray hit three more in the first quarter Monday. The Ducks never trailed in the game, getting a basket by Basham on the opening possession and using an 8-0 run to go up 10-2. VanSlooten hit two free throws in the waning seconds of the period and Oregon ended the first up 18-8.Bell opened the second with a three-pointer, and the Ducks went up 29-13 by scoring on three straight possessions — the last a bucket by Chamberlin. She later hit a three-pointer for a 32-15 lead, helping the Ducks take a 36-19 lead into halftime thanks to a boost from their secondary scorers.“It’s definitely good to see their shots start going in,” Gray said. “It allowed them to gain some confidence before we go into this next stretch. We’ll hope it continues on because we’re going to need them for sure, especially when Pac-12 starts.”Kyei had four points at halftime, and matched that in the third quarter alone. She scored to cap a run of four straight possessions with baskets for the Ducks to give them a 50-29 lead, and they were up 50-33 entering the fourth.Southern scored the first two points of the fourth, before Oregon finished the game on a 17-2 run. Kyei had eight points and seven rebounds in the period, contributing to a strong finish that Graves said was one of his top takeaways from the night.“We just have to finish games out; there’s going to be a lot of games down to the wire,” Gray said. “So doing that now, it’s only going to help us in the future. We’re building that mentality now so we can close games out every game we play.”Notable: Kyei is now averaging 12.5 rebounds per game, after grabbing 56 over the last three games. … Her previous career high of 20 rebounds was set against USC on New Year’s Day. … Chamberlin’s seven points were one more than in her total for the season entering Monday.Up Next: The Ducks wrap up their four-game homestand against Texas-San Antonio on Sunday (11 a.m., Oregon Live Stream).
