Yahoo Autos WBB recap: Ducks cruise past Bison in first round of the WNIT
For the first 10 minutes, the Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team looked like they hadn’t played in over a week.
But then the Ducks turned on the jets and blitzed North Dakota State 96-57 to advance to the second round of the WNIT where they will host Rice.
The first quarter seemingly featured two evenly matched teams as the Ducks held just a slim 19-15 lead. That was a mirage. Oregon outclassed the Bison for the remaining 30 minutes to win by 39 points in front of 2,703 fans.
Those who showed up to Matthew Knight Arena definitely liked what they saw. Te-Hina Paopao continued to play great as she has been for the past month. Grace VanSlooten seems to be over her ankle injury and Ahlise Hurst has found her shooting prowess.
They also witnessed a little past glory as Endyia Rogers simulated Sabrina Ionescu with a triple-double of her own with 10 points, 11 boards, and 11 assists.
Final Score: Oregon 96, North Dakota State 57
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Keys to the game
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Oregon established its height advantage early by going to Grace VanSlooten and Phillipina Kyei to grab a 19-15 lead after one quarter.
After the two teams were working out some kinks, it was the Ducks who got the rust knocked off the quickest. They looked more like the Ducks we were used to seeing. Oregon continued to move the ball in and out of the key and the Bison went cold from the field.
The Ducks blew the game wide open with a 16-0 run to take a 39-19 lead with 1:30 left before halftime.
This game saw the return of Ahlise Hurst, or more specifically, her shot. The Oregon guard has struggled for quite some time with her outside shooting, but tonight, Hurst was on target for the majority of the night. She ended with 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting from behind the three-point line.
Te-Hina Paopao’s end-of-season great play continued as she led the Ducks with 24 points, including 6-of-7 from long range.
Duck point guard Endyia Rogers might have had the quietest triple-double in Oregon history in just 31 minutes played.
Many of those points were the result of NDSU turnovers. Oregon scored 12 points off of turnovers before halftime and wound up with 21 for the game.
It's on the stat sheet
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Te-Hina Paopao: 24 points, 6-7 3-pt line, 7 rebounds, 4 assists
Endyia Rogers: 10 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists
Chance Gray: 16 points
Grace VanSlooten: 12 points, 8 rebounds
Oregon: 13-of-26 from the 3-point line
Heaven Hamling (NDSU): 16 points
What's next?
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Oregon hosts Rice (23-8) in the second round of the WNIT Monday night at 6 pm. The Owls went to Provo, Utah and upset BYU 71-67 in order to play the Ducks.
