No. 11 Arizona State Defeats Oregon, 80-77

Freshman Taylor Lilley’s 20-point effort, a game-high, was one of the bright spots for Oregon.

Jamie Hawkins defends Emily Westerberg in the Ducks' loss to Arizona State. Photo: goducks.com

EUGENE - It’s been 92 years since basketball moved from a game played inside of a giant cage to the form we know today, but after witnessing a combined 54 fouls, fans could imagine Saturday’s win by No. 11 Arizona State over the Oregon Ducks was likely a lot similar to the old game than the new.

The Sun Devils (16-2, 6-1 Pac-10) eventually wore down the Ducks (10-6, 2-4) in the physical matchup, prevailing 80-70 in front of a season-high 3,353 fans at McArthur Court.

Free throws proved to be a big key for ASU, which went to the line 45 times, converting 34. It was the most free throw attempts by an Oregon opponent since Western Kentucky attempted 46 in a 92-90 win over the Ducks on Dec. 5th, 1997.

Sophomore guard Briann January was 14-of-16 from the charity stripe and finished with 16 points despite 1-of-7 shooting from the field. Senior Emily Westerberg posted a team-high 19 points and made 8-of-11 free throws.

The Ducks were 15-of-20 shooting free throws, including 7-of-11 in the second half.

Another key in the game was rebounding, or the lack there of for UO. The Ducks were out-boarded 40-21 and did not have a single player with more than three.

But even with those issues, Oregon managed to stay in the game and was within a two-pointer, trailing 63-61 with 4:20 to play. However, from that point on, the Ducks managed only two more field goals and saw three starters foul out as the Sun Devils scored 11 of their final 17 points from the line.

Freshman Taylor Lilley’s 20-point effort, a game-high, was one of the bright spots for Oregon. She came off the bench and was 7-of-12 from the field, including 3-of-6 from three-point range in 29 minutes.

Sophomore Tamika Nurse had 15 points before fouling out, and senior Cicely Oaks added 12 points and three rebounds.

Senior Eleanor Haring, the team’s leading scorer at just below 15 points per game, was held to eight on 4-of-13 shooting.

Outside of Haring, Oregon’s other post players were a combined 1-of-6 from the field.

Arizona State jumped ahead 43-37 early in the second half before the Ducks strung together an 8-0 run, capped by an Oaks layup, for a 45-43 lead with 13:47 to play.

Oregon’s last lead would come at 49-47 with 12:12 remaining.

Despite 13 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, Arizona State took a 34-33 lead into halftime. The Sun Devils held an 18-7 rebounding edge and shot 50.0 percent on 11-of-22 shooting.

Oregon made 44.0 percent of its first-half attempts as both teams combined for 25 fouls in the opening period.

Senior Aubree Johnson was a perfect 6-of-6 from the field and led all scorers with 12 of her 16 points on the night. Lilley had eight points at the break for UO.

The Ducks held the early first-half lead until the 9:08 mark when sophomore Briann January hit a pair of free throws to put the Sun Devils on top 20-19.

UO responded with a 6-0 run on buckets by Lilley and junior Kaela Chapdelaine, and two free throws by Nurse, but ASU ripped off the next eight for a 28-25 lead.

Oregon hits the road next week to take on No. 10 Stanford on Thursday in Stanford, Calif.

The Cardinal (14-3, 7-0) are the lone unbeaten team in Pac-10 play and have won 12 games in a row

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