EUGENE, Ore. — Coming off a couple tough results in Hawai’i and with the start of Big Ten play looming, Oregon women’s basketball was looking for a statement performance Wednesday. And the Ducks made one.
The UO women improved to 7-2 on Wednesday with an 85-70 win over Washington State before 4,756 fans in Matthew Knight Arena. Peyton Scott had 23 points with four of the Ducks’ six three-pointers on the night, while forwards Amina Muhammad and Phillipina Kyei combined for 35 points and 15 rebounds as Oregon scored from both inside and outside.
“It’s kind of amazing how it all works together,” UO coach Kelly Graves said with a wry smile. “We just haven’t made enough threes to where people have had to focus on guarding us out there. When we shoot like that, good things will happen.”
Oregon hosts No. 6 USC on Saturday, and the previously No. 21 Ducks are unranked for the matchup after two losses last week in the Hawai’i North Shore Showcase. Graves gave the team four days off over Thanksgiving to regroup, and the Ducks showed Wednesday they had done so.
“It was huge for us as a team, just to remind ourselves we are capable,” Scott said. “We’re capable of bouncing back and we’re capable of being resilient.”
How It Happened: The Ducks used their size to great advantage early. Muhammad scored Oregon’s first six points, and then Kyei scored seven during an 11-0 run that gave Oregon a 17-9 lead. Kyei scored again to make it 19-11, and Nani Falatea hit a three for a 22-15 lead — the Ducks’ only made three of the first half, as it turned out.
“The whole plan of the game was to get it inside the paint a lot, get their post players in trouble,” Kyei said. “I think the bigs did a very good job of posting up, and that paid off.”
Oregon led 22-17 after one quarter, but that cold shooting from outside proved costly in the second. The Ducks missed all five of their three-point attempts in the quarter, while WSU was 3-of-5 to tie it up at halftime, 34-34. All three makes came during a 15-2 run by the Cougars to lead 34-32, before Deja Kelly scored the last basket of the half.
It was still tied early in the third quarter, 44-44, when the Ducks made a move. Scott broke the cold streak from long range, making a pair of threes followed by an Elisa Mevius three-point play that made it 53-44. Back-to-back buckets by Kyei pushed the lead to 11 at 57-46, and the Ducks still led by double digits entering the final period, 65-55, after Scott banked in yet another three to beat the buzzer.
“I was just really pleased overall,” Graves said. “We dominated inside — 50 points in the paint, that was incredible. And it was nice to see us knock a couple three downs.”
Mevius scored twice during a 6-0 run early in the fourth as the UO women went up 71-57. Sofia Bell hit a three moments later for a 15-point lead, 76-61, and the Ducks remained in control the rest of the way.
Notable: Members of the UO volleyball team threw souvenir balls to the crowd during a first-half timeout. The volleyball team hosts NCAA Tournament play in Matthew Knight Arena on Thursday and Friday. … The Ducks did not have senior Salimatou Kourouma, sophomore Sammie Wagner or freshmen Ehis Etute and Katie Fiso available for Wednesday’s game.
Up Next: Oregon opens Big Ten play by hosting USC on Saturday (1 p.m., Big Ten Network).
