Oregon St. Overwhelms Oregon Again

Oregon St. overwhelmed Oregon again Sunday evening, taking their 9th win in a row in women's basketball Civil War battles, this time by a 77-48 score.

The Beavers stumbled out early shooting wise, continuing the only thing that was problematical for them if Friday night's 70-37 win over the Ducks, but their best in the Pac-12 defense was still there, and once the offense began to find the range, the run was on.

It's worth noting that while Oregon St. has not been producing well offensively, shooting only 37% Friday night, and little better for much of the first half at Matthew Knight Arena, they have been playing well offensively, getting good looks and lots of inside shots. They just missed most of them. Eventually, that was bound to turn around, and a 16-2 run turned a 5-4 game into a 21-6 one quickly.

Ruth Hamblin had as hard a time hitting as anyone in Friday's win, finishing with only 9 points, but turned that around quickly, pouring in15 of what would eventually be her game high 23 points before halftime, as the Beavers went to the locker room up 33-16.

"We made getting Ruth good looks down low our focus" Oregon St. head coach Scott Rueck said of the Beavers' game plan.

Sydney Wiese, who also had an off night Friday was much active early, with 7 points and 5 assists before the break, and Jamie Weisner, the star of the weekend opening win, though scoreless in the first half, again was a force on the boards, with 7 rebounds from her guard spot.

"We made the same mistakes we did last time," Oregon head coach Kelly Graves said.

Oregon came out of the locker room playing their best ball of the weekend, and quickly cut the deficit to 11 with a 5-0 start to an 8-2 run, but Wiese answered with a 3 pointer, and then Oregon St. went back to Hamblin.

Oregon post Megan Carpenter had picked up her 3rd personal foul 2 minutes into the second half, and her 4 less than 2 minutes later. Coach Graves elected to leave Carpenter in the game though, and her choice was foul out or let Hamblin go unchecked, and Hamblin hit back to back baskets for a 7-0 run to rebuild the lead to 18 points, with the Beavers up 42-24.

Hamblin would get her 3rd foul with almost 15 minutes left to go, but Deven Hunter hit a pair of free throws on consecutive trips, and Marie Gulich, on in relief of Hamblin then converted back to back 2 + 1's to become the 5th Beaver in double digits, and produce a 61-30 lead.

Oregon would respond with a 7-0 run, but it was way too late, and Weisner's 3 and another Hamblin basket put an end to any thoughts of getting back into the game for the Duck fans not in Dallas that were on hand.

The Beavers took their largest lead, 32 points, going up 74-42 with 3:16 left, and cruised to another double digit win, which their last 25 (in 29 games) have all been.

Oregon St. was balanced in support of Hamblin, with Hunter, Gibson, Wiese, and Gulich all at 10 points apiece.

Oregon's Jillian Alleyne, one of the best players in the conference, had 8 of the Ducks first 10 points, while her teammates were a combined 1 of 18 from the floor, and finished with a double double, 16 points, and a game high 18 rebounds. But Alleyne was a 1 Duck show, and no one else was even close to double digits in anything.

The Beavers, after their cold shooting start, recovered to connect on 45% of their shots for the game, making 29 of 65, including 7 of 21 3 pointers, 33%.

The Ducks did better than their 24% night Friday, but still only shot 32%, after being held to 25% in the first half.

"I was again really pleased with out defense," Rueck said of what was the single largest key to the pair of blowout Civil War wins.

The other big difference was Oregon St.'s making 12 of 14 from the free throw line, while Oregon was only 3 of 6, and never even got to the stripe until well into the second half.

Oregon St. improved to 14-1, and 4-0 in the Pac-12, their best start ever, and a share of first place in conference with Arizona St. and Stanford.

The weekend sweep left Oregon 8-7 for the season, and 1-3 in conference.

The Beavers and Ducks both remain at home next weekend, hosting the Washington schools.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com