University of Washington
Oregon
UW Women Fall Short At Oregon, 66-64
January 19, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 19, 2008
EUGENE, Ore. - Oregon reserve guard Tamika Nurse hit a pair of free-throws with 6.7 seconds left which proved to be the deciding points as the Ducks ended up on top of a back-and-forth battle with Washington, 66-64, at McArthur Court in Eugene, Saturday afternoon.
UW senior point guard Emily Florence dribbled the length of the floor as time wound down, but her pass across the key was intercepted by Duck guard Taylor Lilley just before the final buzzer.
The loss dropped Washington to 7-12, 2-5 in Pac-10 play, while Oregon improved to 10-8, 4-3 in conference action. The Huskies suffered their second-straight loss after falling by just four at Oregon State on Thursday, 68-64.
The Huskies led by one point at halftime (29-28) and owned as much as a nine point advantage at 16:46 in the second-half. But each time UW would pull away, the Ducks would come right back - and vice versa.
Junior guard Michelle Augustavo led the Huskies with 18 points on a season-high six three-pointers. Senior center Andrea Plouffe contributed 14 points, while freshman guard/forward Katelan Redmon scored 10 points - all in the second half. Junior forward Heidi McNeill grabbed a team-high six rebounds, while Augustavo had five.
Nurse came off the bench for Oregon and scored 17 points, while adding eight rebounds and six assists. Lilley scored a game-high 20 points with four of her eight field goals coming from beyond the arc.
After leading for a good portion of the second-half, the Huskies found themselves down by five (58-63) with 3:32. But Washington continued to battle as Redmon sank a three-pointer and after a made free-throw from Oregon, the Huskies tied the game at 64 on a three-point play from Florence. Florence was fouled on a jumper and made the free-throw with 2:01 left.
After Oregon turned over the ball with one minute to play, the Huskies let an opportunity to go ahead slip away when sophomore guard Sara Mosiman missed a jumper with 41.3 seconds remaining. But Florence was fouled on the rebound by Oregon's Kaela Chapdelaine, sending the senior point guard to the line.
Florence missed the front end of the one-and-one, which was rebounded by Oregon. It was on the Ducks' next possession when Mosiman committed a blocking foul on Nurse to set up the two free-throws with 6.7 second on the clock.
Oregon won the battle on the boards, 40-29, but the Huskies forced the Ducks into 21 turnovers while committing a season-low 12 turnovers themselves. UW also grabbed 10 steals.
Oregon opened the game with an 8-0 run but the Huskies came storming back with their own run, a 20-3 spurt to take a nine point lead (20-11) with 8:26 left in the first half. The Huskies' largest lead of the first half was 10 (23-13) at 7:40. The Ducks climbed back in the game, finishing the half with a 9-2 run to cut Washington's lead to one at the intermission (29-28).
Augustavo scored 12 first-half points, sinking four three-pointers in the first 20 minutes. The Huskies forced Oregon into 14 first-half turnovers while grabbing seven steals.
Florence claimed sole possession of ninth place on the UW career list for assists. Florence served four assists versus Oregon and has 349 in her Husky tenure.
The Huskies will return to Seattle to host three-straight games beginning next week with the Arizona schools. UW will entertain Arizona State, Thursday, Jan. 24 (7 p.m.) and Arizona, Saturday, Jan. 26 (2 p.m.).
