The Oregon ladies finished their road trip back east with an upset of the #16 Maryland Terrapins, 68-61.
This was a physical, hard-fought game, especially in the closing period. The Ducks rose to the task and rode an outstanding performance from Ehis Etute, who posted a career high in points and her fifth double-double of the season.
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The sides played neck-and-neck into the second quarter, and Oregon pulled ahead with an eight-point lead and 3:41 to go to halftime.
But then Maryland closed the half with a 14-0 run, led by Ouichi Okananwa.
Okananwa scored 23 points in the first half. An Oregon win would not be realized if the Ducks continued to let her score like that. They also were not going to win if they allowed a second half of the Terps owning the paint, which Maryland did in the first half to the tune of 24 points.
The Ducks led briefly in the third period following a 6-0 run. They were not letting Okananwa score at will, and even though Maryland was up by six at the end of the 3rd period, the game did not have the feel of the Terps running away with it.
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Oregon made sure of that in the fourth quarter.
The Ducks closed the game masterfully, scoring 24 points in the fourth while limiting Maryland to just 11 points. But it didn’t come right away.
Oregon played aggressively for the ball, and when all was said and done they pulled twice the rebounds that the Terps did in the quarter. Ultimately, however, it was a rain of threes from Sofia Bell that put the Ducks ahead for good.
Maryland ran out of time to rally. Down two points with 27 seconds left to play, the Terps fouled Katie Fiso, who drained her shots. Maryland was forced to continue fouling, and the Ducks scored 5 of their 6 free throws to close with the win.
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Here are your game highlights:
Oluchi Okananwa led Maryland with 27 points, but only scored four points in the second half. The Terps had the edge in rebounds and points in the paint in the first half, while scoring 48.4% in the first 20 minutes.
Oregon shot 33% in the first half, but shot 63.6% in the second half to 25% for Maryland. The Ducks had the edge in rebounds after halftime, 20-12, and points in the paint, 18-12.
Ehis Etude scored a career-high 26 points, and pulled down 11 rebounds. Sofia Bell scored 16 points, with 11 coming in her scorching fourth quarter performance.
Oregon (17-7, 5-6 Big-10) returns to Eugene for a Wednesday match against Illinois (15-6, 5-5 Big-10). Last week, the Illini received three votes and were essentially ranked #31. They will look to try and turn around their two-game losing streak (albeit losing to very good Nebraska and UCLA teams).
