UO Women Drop Third Straight

EUGENE, Ore. — Oregon's struggles to create offense without its two top playmakers and its leading scorer continued Wednesday when the No. 18 Ducks suffered their first nonconference home defeat in nearly seven years, a 64-57 loss to UC Davis in Matthew Knight Arena.

The Ducks (3-3) committed just eight turnovers but shot a season-low 34.4 percent in losing to the Aggies. It was Oregon's first nonconference loss at home since December 2014, the first season for the program under head coach Kelly Graves.

"Defensively I thought we were good enough to have won this game," Graves said. "But we're just not real good offensively right now. It's kind of disappointing. We've got to get better."

How It Happened: The Ducks played their third straight game without playmaking guards Te-Hina Paopao and Endyia Rogers and also leading scorer Nyara Sabally. They're all projected to return in the coming weeks, but they were of no help Wednesday.

UC Davis jumped out to an early 11-4 lead in the first quarter, and a trio of three-pointers by Ahlise Hurst was nearly all the offense Oregon could muster in the period as the Ducks fell behind 17-14. Taylor Bigby and Chanaya Pinto provided a spark off the bench in the second, and the Ducks clawed into a 31-30 lead on a jumper by Maddie Scherr, who has stepped up as the primary ballhandler in the absence of Paopao and Rogers. It remained a one-point lead at halftime, 35-34.

The game got away from the Ducks in the third. After a Sydney Parrish three-pointer put Oregon up 41-40, UC Davis mounted an 11-0 run to take control for good. The Aggies scored five second-chance points during the period, and had a 12-7 advantage on the boards.

"They wanted it more, you could tell," Graves said of that stretch. "They were more organized; they played harder. That was killer. … That's tough to swallow."

Oregon got within 53-49 by the end of the third, and a layup by Scherr cut the deficit to four again at 60-56 with 2:56 to play. But that was the Ducks' only made basket on their final 12 shots of the game, and they missed their last eight in a row.

"We had some pretty good looks," Graves said. "One of the things I've always prided myself on — well, two things offensively: shot selection and taking care of the ball. We took care of the ball; we had a decent night with our shot selection. We just didn't make many."

Who Stood Out: Hurst and Sedona Prince led the Ducks with 11 points each, and Kylee Watson added eight points with six rebounds. Scherr had six points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals, with just a single turnover.

Phillipina Kyei added six points with seven rebounds off the bench, but those big Oregon posts struggled battling for long rebounds against the hard-charging Aggies, who fought to a 39-39 tie on the boards.

What It Means: The Ducks only have nine players available, but Graves said he may tinker with the starting lineup going forward to see if anything clicks.

"At some point you have to mix things up and see if something else might work early in the game," he said.

Up Next: The Ducks play Saturday at Portland.