Pac-12 women's basketball standouts achieve milestones, break records

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OREGON maintained its No. 1 national ranking in the Associated Press poll and WBCA coaches poll following victories over Utah State (Nov. 13) and Texas Southern (Nov. 16) ... Four teams continue to be ranked in the AP Poll, four in the top 11, including No. 3 STANFORD, No. 7 OREGON STATE, and No. 11 UCLA ... The Beavers checked in at No. 5 in the WBCA coaches poll while ARIZONA made its first appearance in the national ranks at No. 24 in the coaches poll ...  USC takes on #6/7 Texas A&M in a primetime home matchup on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. PT ... Arizona’s Aari McDonald set a new program single-game scoring record with 44 points in Arizona’s road victory over then-No. 22 Texas ... She became the first player in school history to score 40 points in a game while her 44 points were the most any opposing player has scored against Texas at Frank Erwin Center ... Oregon’s 109-52 victory over Utah State saw Sabrina Ionescu become the fourth-ever Duck to reach 2,000-career points while Ruthy Hebard became just the fourth-ever Duck to record 1,000-career rebounds ... Ionescu also became just the second Pac-12 player ever (Jordin Canada, UCLA) to reach the 800-assist milestone against Utah State ... McDonald secured USBWA and Pac-12 Player of the Week honors after averaging 34.0 points per game and going 20-for-20 from the free throw line in Arizona’s road wins over Chicago State and Texas ... Oregon State forward Taylor Jones won her second-consecutive Pac-12 Freshman of the Week award ... Jones put up a career-high 24 points in the Beavers’ 98-77 win over then-No. 18 DePaul, adding nine boards and three blocks in the performance ... Seven Pac-12 teams continue to boast an undefeated non-conference record ... Pac-12 teams went 15-3 over the past week of action, including a pair of wins over ranked opponents.

Ducks Claim Historic Win; Pac-12 teams Take on Team USA: On a collegiate tour tune-up as it prepares to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the USA Women’s National Team made stops at Oregon, Stanford and Oregon State. The Ducks provided the most talked about result, becoming the first college team since 1999, and only the second ever, to defeat the Red, White and Blue. Led by Sabrina Ionescu’s 30-point outing, the Ducks won by a 93-86 margin, holding off the best team in the world as they made a late push.

Team USA opened at Stanford where it led early on and trailed just 68-62 going into the final quarter before the national team took control for good and won, 95-80. Junior Kiana WIlliams knocked down five of the team’s 10 threes, tying for the team scoring lead with 17 points. Oregon State fell to the Americans by a score of 81-58, losing the rebounding battle by just five (35-30). Redshirt junior Destiny Slocum led the way with 15 points and five assists.

All three teams continue to be ranked in the top 10 of the national polls.

Pac-12 Leads With the Most National POY Candidates: The Pac-12 led the way on all three national player of the year watch lists, with as many as 11 earning a spot on at least one list. Nine from the Conference were selected preseason candidates for the Wade Trophy and John Wooden Award, including 2019 winner Sabrina Ionescu. Oregon had the most candidates with three. Oregon State and Stanford both had multiple candidates, and Arizona and UCLA each had a representative. On the Naismith Award watch list, the Pac-12 led the way with 11, with four Ducks being cited, the most of any team in the country. A Bruin was also added. The list of names on each of the watch lists are on page 4.

A Pac-12 student-athlete has won the Wade Trophy and Wooden Award in two of the last three years, with Washington’s Kelsey Plum nabbing the honors in 2017. Sweeping the national player of the year honors that season, Plum is the only one from the Conference to claim the Naismith Award.

ESPN.COM Top 25 Players of 2019-20: Over one third of the student-athletes named to ESPN.com’s Top 25 Players of 2019-20 are from the Pac-12. Altogether, nine from the Pac-12 were listed in the top 20, led by Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu. Oregon had three recognized in the top 10 and Oregon State’s Destiny Slocum came in at No. 9. Spots Nos. 8-15 were all occupied by a Pac-12 student-athlete except one. Five different schools were also represented on the list.

2,000-Point Milestone: Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu reached 2,000-career points in the Ducks’ 109-52 win over Utah State. She is the fourth Duck ever to reach the threshold and the second since the Pac-12 began sponsoring women’s sports in 1986-87. Other Pac-12 student-athletes within reach of 2,000-career points are fellow Duck Ruthy Hebard and Washington State’s Borislava Hristova, who would become the first Cougar to achieve the milestone. There have now been 21 players in Pac-12 history to score 2,000 points.

More Records in Sight for Ionescu: Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu has already set several triple-double records and is looking to become the first with 2,000 points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds. She also has her sights set on the Pac-12’s all-time assists record which is currently owned by WNBA standout Jordin Canada, who dished out 831 during her career at UCLA from 2015-18. Ionescu reached the 800-assist milestone in Oregon’s win over Utah State and joins Canada as the only players in league history to collect 800 assists. When Canada broke the all-time mark in 2018, she broke a record which had stood for 27 years. Ionescu currently has 824-career assists to her credit.

19 Named to National Positional Awards Watch Lists: A combined 19 from the Pac-12 were named to the Basketball Hall of Fame/WBCA Starting Five watch lists, which is the most for any conference. At least one Pac-12 student-athlete was on each of the lists. The Conference had the most candidates for any league for the Ann Meyers Drysdale (5), Cheryl Miller (5) and Nancy Lieberman Awards (4), and tied for the most for the Katrina McClain Award (3). Nine (out of 12) different league schools are represented across the five lists, tying with the ACC (out of 15) for the most school representation for a conference. Both Oregon and STANFORD lead Pac-12 teams with four candidates each, tying for second most in the country. ARIZONA, OREGON STATE and UCLA each had multiple nominees, as well, while USC, UTAH, WASHINGTON and WASHINGTON STATE each had a candidate on one of the lists. Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu is a two-time winner of the Liberman Award and teammate Ruthy Hebard was the 2018 winner of the McClain Award.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

* Game times local to site; Live streams of matchups available at pac-12.com.

Road to New Orleans: Teams across the country will be focused on getting to New Orleans this season, the site of the 2020 NCAA Women’s Final Four on April 3 and 5. To get to New Orleans, teams will have to go through regional sites in Greenville, S.C., Fort Wayne, Ind., Portland, Ore., and Dallas, Texas. Oregon State hosts the Portland Regional for the second year in a row from March 27-March 30, 2020, with specific dates to be announced. The first and second round of the tournament will take place on 16 campus sites with the top-16 seeds hosting, March 19-22, 2020.. The top 64 teams will learn their fates in the broadcast of the annual selection show on Monday, March 16, 2020.