Washington Battles Hard But Can't Pull Off Upset at No. 5 Oregon

Friday, January 4

Eugene, OR

6:00 PM

University of Washington

7-7, 0-2Pac-12

Oregon

12-1, 1-0Pac-12

Washington

Oregon

Photo by: Brian Morse / Washington Athletics

Washington Battles Hard But Can't Pull Off Upset at No. 5 Oregon

January 04, 2019 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

EUGENE, Ore. --- Alexis Griggsby matched her season point total with 26 points while Amber Melgoza added 23 points but despite trailing but just one point with six minutes to play, Washington was unable to pull off the upset, falling 84-71 at No. 5 Oregon on Friday night.

The Huskies (7-7, 0-2 Pac-12) held off several long runs by the Ducks (12-1, 1-0 Pac-12) in the game including falling behind 23-6 early on and trailing 55-41 midway through the third. Washington would use a 25-11 run spanning the third and fourth quarters to pull within one at 66-65 with 6:23. However, Oregon would outscore the Huskies 18-6 over the final six minutes to pull out the victory.

The Huskies held the Ducks to their second-lowest shooting night of the season at 42.3% while connecting on 46.9% themselves—their best percentage in eight games.

Griggsby, who came into the game having scored 26 points through 11 games this season, lit up the Ducks for 17 points in the second quarter, connecting on all five three-point attempts. She finished by hitting 10-of-16 from the field including 6-of-11 from beyond the arc.

Melgoza got off to a slow start, but scored 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting in the second the half to help the Huskies keep pace with the Ducks. The junior continues to enjoy playing at Oregon where she has scored 54 in the last two games she has played in Eugene including 31 in last year's meeting.

"We are proud of the effort tonight," said Head Coach Jody Wynn. "They are a tough cover and so explosive offensively, but we battled them for 40 minutes. (Alexis Griggsby) stepped up big for us and it was great to see her knock down those shots. We played hard and gave ourselves the change to take the lead in the fourth with a layup, but just couldn't finish."

Washington got off to a tough start in the game, as the Ducks jumped out to a 23-6 lead over the first eight minutes of the game. However, the Huskies finished the quarter strong, using an 18-0 run which spanned the quarter break to take a 24-23 lead at the 7:30 mark. Griggsby capped off the run with back-to-back three-pointers to give Washington its first lead of the game.

The Ducks bounced back with a quick five points over the next two possessions to quickly take the lead right back. But Griggsby kept the Huskies in the game against the high-powered Oregon offense, scoring 14-straight points including a three-pointer to pull Washington to within one at 38-37 at the half.

In the third, Washington took the lead right back as Darcy Rees and Jenna Moser scored layups to stretch the Husky lead to 41-38 two minutes in. But Oregon erupted with a 17-0 run over the next four minutes to take a commanding 55-41 lead at the 4:29 mark. Melgoza would stop the run with a tough runner in the lane, scoring 10-straight points for the Huskies and would cut the lead down to eight at 58-51 after three quarters.

The teams went back and forth to open the fourth quarter until a 7-0 run pulled the Huskies back to within one at 66-65 with 6:23 to go. But it was all Ducks the rest of the way as Oregon used an 8-0 to quick stretch the lead to nine and closed out the game on an 18-6 run.

Despite the Ducks having one of the best front-lines in the conference, Washington outscored Oregon 34-20 in the paint. The Huskies also held their own on the boards as the Ducks out-rebounded UW 38-31 with the extra seven rebounds coming onto the offensive end.

Oregon connected on 14-of-37 shots from three-point range with eight coming from Erin Boley, who scored a game-high 28 points. Boley, who averaged 13.4 points per game coming into the contest, hitting 5-of-6 in the first quarter to score 19 of the Ducks' 23 points in the quarter.

Sabrina Ionescu added 20 points and 10 assists for Oregon while Satou Sabally contributed 19 points and 12 rebounds. Ruthy Hebard, who came into the contest averaging 16.8 points and shooting an NCAA-best 74.1%—struggled against the Washington duo of Rees and Hannah Johnson, scoring just 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting.

The Huskies are in the midst of a stretch which sees them play three games against Top 15 teams in a four-game span. Washington closes out that run on Sunday, traveling to Oregon State to take on the 11th-ranked Beavers at 2:00 p.m. at Gill Coliseum.