Huge Third Quarter Fuels Big Win

EUGENE, Ore. — Up comfortably at halftime Saturday, the Oregon women's basketball team turned on the afterburners in the third quarter to soundly defeat Portland 90-51 before 5,892 fans in Matthew Knight Arena.

The No. 19 Ducks (6-1) were up seven early in the third quarter, 40-33, then proceeded to make their next 11 field-goal attempts while forcing 10 turnovers the rest of the period. Oregon outscored UP 33-12 in the third, before continuing to pull away in the fourth quarter.

"This might be the best we've played so far this year," UO coach Kelly Graves said. "I truly believe that. We've had moments in other games, but from start to finish, I thought this was our most consistent, best effort. Portland's a good team."

Freshman guard Chance Gray made four three-pointers on her way to a game-high 20 points for the Ducks. That led six UO women in double figures, and Taylor Hosendove nearly joined them with nine points to go along with 10 rebounds.

How It Happened: Portland hung tough early. The Pilots had an 8-5 lead before the Ducks first used defensive pressure to change the game. Oregon turned over UP four straight times, leading to transition baskets by Gray and Te-Hina Paopao and then a three by Gray for a 7-0 run. The Ducks didn't trail the rest of the game, though UP tied it a couple times later in the period, led by rugged forward Alex Fowler and UO transfer Lucy Cochrane in the post.

"It seems like all year long, when we've really upped the pressure defensively and tried to make things happen, we've done a good job offensively," Graves said. "We've gotten a lot of steals, which fuels our transition game."

After a three-pointer by Ahlise Hurst put Oregon up 24-18 early in the third, Portland answered with a bucket by Cochrane, who mostly made her presence felt at the other end with six blocked shots. The Pilots would then go 6:46 before their next field goal, with the Ducks racing out to a 36-24 lead fueled by threes from Gray and Endyia Rogers. Yet another three, by Taya Hanson, gave Oregon a 40-29 lead at halftime.

Portland scored on its first two possessions of the third quarter to get within 40-33, but Oregon then put together a dominant period of basketball. Over the next 2:02 of clock time the Ducks put together a 12-2 run in which they forced four turnovers. The Pilots called timeout to stop the momentum, but out of the break Oregon forced yet another turnover and Gray converted it at the other end. Phillipina Kyei made the Ducks' eighth straight bucket, Rogers and Hurst hit threes and Kyei scored again to make it 11 straight Oregon makes.

"I've coached some pretty good quarters in this arena over the years, and that's one of the best I think we've ever had," Graves said. "I thought we performed so well, at both ends of the floor."

After a brief lull, the Ducks scored on their final four possessions of the third as well, on two baskets by Hanson sandwiched around a three by Hurst, then a quarter-closing putback by Hosendove to cap a nice sequence by the UO bench. They kept it up in the fourth, and the Ducks finished with their fourth win of the season by 37 or more points.

Who Stood Out: Gray set her new career high of 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-8 from three-point range. Kyei recorded her second straight double-double and third of the season, with 12 points and 13 rebounds, and Rogers also had 12 points, with four rebounds and three assists. Hanson added 11 points with seven rebounds, Grace VanSlooten had 10 points with five steals and Paopao finished with 10 points and eight assists with no turnovers — giving her 31 assists against three turnovers on the season.

Gray began the season 2-of-12 from three-point range in her first three games, but she's 9-of-18 since including a new career high of four makes Saturday.

"It was just a confidence thing — and honestly, not working on my shot as much," Gray said. "So once I started getting back in the gym, getting extra shots up, getting my confidence back, is when I knew I would start hitting."

Quotable:

Senior forward Taylor Hosendove on the play this season of Te-Hina Paopao
"Honestly, that's the best point guard I've played with. This is my third school and I've never seen a point guard like Te-Hina, on and off the court. On the court she's a beast, she's a great leader. She helps my job be easy. Te-Hina is a great player all-around, and a great person."

Head coach Kelly Graves on the start of conference play looming next week
"Finals first; let's worry about that and take (care of) that. The biggest cheer of the night was when I told him we'll take tomorrow and Monday off. Sunday's an important study day. We'll kind of maybe just lift on Tuesday, maybe run a little bit just to blow off some steam and then we'll turn our attention to Oregon State. They always seem to play us stuff, and doggone Scott (Rueck) has gotten the better of me most of the time so we've got to turn that around."

Up Next: The Ducks open Pac-12 play by hosting Oregon State on Dec. 11 (4 p.m., Pac-12 Network).