Oregon Wins Civil War Round # 2, 70-63

Next up for the Ducks is UCLA (12-11, 6-5) on Thursday at 7:00 PM at McArthur Court.

Micaela Cocks playd a flawless point in the second half against Oregon State. Photo: goducks.com

CORVALLIS - Basketball games don’t get any bigger than this.

With their season essentially on the line, the Oregon Ducks executed in a must-win situation and picked up their first Pac-10 road win since 2005 with a 70-63 victory over intrastate rival Oregon State on Sunday night at Gill Coliseum.

Freshman guard Micaela Cocks scored a career-high 14 points off the bench, including a late back-breaking three-pointer as Oregon (11-9 overall, 3-7 Pac-10) ended a four-game slide and earned a Civil War split after Wednesday’s crushing home loss.

“I was just trying to concentrate on working hard,” said Cocks, who admitted to knowing she would see more minutes with fellow freshman guard Taylor Lilley out of the lineup with a leg injury.

With Oregon trailing 52-51 at the 5:29 mark, Cocks led the Ducks on an 11-0 run, contributing an assist, steal and three-pointer from the left corner to give the Ducks an eight-point lead with under three minutes to play.

After three turnovers in the first half, the New Zealand native was more than competent during crunch time, handling the point guard duties without a miscue in 17 second-half minutes.

Senior Eleanor Haring led the Ducks with 16 points and eight rebounds, and senior Carolyn Ganes had 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 2-of-4 from three-point range.

Fellow senior Cicely Oaks finished with 12 points, nine coming after halftime.

Oregon bottled up OSU senior Casey Nash, limiting the Pac-10 scoring leader to 18 points on 6-of-16 shooting.

On defense, Nash was limited down the stretch, playing the final 5:49 with four fouls.

Sophomore Mercedes Fox-Griffin finished with nine points, 11 assists and seven steals, playing all 40 minutes for the Beavers (8-11 overall, 3-7 Pac-10).

The Ducks were ahead 35-26 at halftime and led by as many as 11 points in the opening period.

Oregon shot 55.6 percent to the Beavers’ 36.4 percent and dominated the rebounding battle, 21-8.

Ganes made 5-of-6 field goals and led all scorers with 12 points. Cocks and senior post Jamie Hawkins added seven points apiece.

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