Ducks Down Dawgs, Remain Unbeaten

Oregon 73, Washington 49 | Postgame Notes | Boxscore

SEATTLE – The Oregon women's basketball team continued its impressive play on the defensive end to overcome a cold shooting day and remain unbeaten early in the 2020-21 season, defeating Washington, 73-49, on Saturday afternoon in Alaska Airlines Arena.
 
The No. 7 Ducks shot a season-low 41.8 percent (28-of-67) from the floor, but limited Washington to just 33.9 percent (19-of-56) from the field and 27.8 percent (5-of-18) from three-point range. Oregon held its opponent to less than 60 points for the sixth straight game, and fewer than 50 points for the second time this season.
 
"I've been really pleased with our defense," said head coach Kelly Graves. "We scored a lot of points off of turnovers tonight, I thought that was key, we just didn't shoot the ball very well and our offense just seemed a little bit out of sync."
 
Oregon improved to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in Pac-12 play while extending the program record with its 25th straight win dating back to last season, the longest active winning streak in the nation.
 
How it Happened: Washington (4-3, 1-3) led 3-0 nearly two minutes into the game – the longest UO has trailed in a game so far this season – but sophomore Jaz Shelley generated six points in less than 20 seconds with an assist to Nyara Sabally, a steal and a lay-up, and another steal and assist to Te-Hina Paopao.
 
Back-to-back triples by Erin Boley and Paopao made it a 12-5 Oregon lead before Washington closed to within 16-12 with two minutes left in the opening quarter. The Ducks led 21-12 after the first quarter thanks to a terrific sequence by a trio of UO freshmen, with Maddie Scherr making it 18-12 with a rebound basket and Sydney Parrish draining a three off a steal and assist by Angela Dugalic.
 
The Ducks led 26-16 early in the second quarter before going on a 7-0 run that featured midrange jumpers by Dugalic and Sabally and another three-pointer by Paopao. The Huskies battled back to make a nine-point game before halftime, but Taylor Chavez found Sedona Prince down low for an easy lay-in with 28 seconds remaining to send Oregon into the locker room with an 11-point advantage.
 
Oregon went just 4-of-15 from the floor and scored only 13 points in the third quarter, but the Ducks held Washington to 4-of-14 shooting and 10 points to extend their lead to 14 points with 10 minutes remaining. Sabally led Oregon with seven points in the quarter, including an impressive and-one bucket after fighting through traffic.
 
Parrish took over for the Ducks in the fourth quarter to help put the game away, going 5-of-8 from the floor and 2-of-4 from deep to score 12 of Oregon's 23 points in the period. Leading 56-39, Parrish converted an inside basket and followed with back-to-back triples to fuel a 15-0 run that pushed the Ducks' lead to more than 30 points with less than three minutes remaining.
 
"My teammates did the hard part," said Parrish, "they penetrated and kicked and got me the ball, and they just fell for me tonight."
 
Who Stood Out: Parrish went 7-of-12 from the field and 4-of-8 from three-point range for a career-high 18 points, becoming the fifth different Duck to lead the team in scoring through six games. Sabally finished with 13 points and Paopao had 12 to give Oregon three players in double figures, and Oregon had 10 total players score for the sixth straight game. Sabally and Dugalic led the way on the boards with seven apiece, and Dugalic and Shelley each had three steals as the Ducks matched their season-high with 11 as a team.
 
Notable: In addition to extending the nation's longest winning streak, UO won its 22nd straight conference game and 12th consecutive road game … Oregon won its seventh straight vs. Washington to take a 52-51 lead in the all-time series … The Ducks are 4-0 to open Pac-12 play for the second time in the last three seasons, and 6-0 overall for the third year in a row … Paopao has scored in double figures in each of her first four career conference games ... Graves recorded his 161st win as Oregon's head coach, moving past Jody Runge (1993-01) for No. 2 on the program's all-time list.
 
Up Next: Oregon will close out the 2020 calendar year on Monday with an 11 a.m. PT matchup with Washington State in Pullman (Pac-12 Network).