Oregon Bounces Back to Crush California 88-53 with Lights-Out Shooting

Sydney Parrish and Te-Hina Paopao shine from behind the line in Oregon’s first Pac-12 win of the season.

Author:
Graham Metzker
Publish date:
Jan 9, 2022 6:48 PM EST

Pre-Game

Oregon’s starting lineup saw no changes from the previous game against No. 2 Stanford. Forward Sedona Prince is still sidelined due to COVID-19 protocols in the Oregon program, so Sydney Parrish and Maddie Scherr started in the small-ball lineup.

First Quarter

The Ducks’ star guards Endyia Rogers and Te-Hina Paopao had the first two Oregon scores of the game. Then Rogers found Parrish who hit a three-pointer to give the Ducks a 7-0 start to the game. And all of a sudden, the game turned into the Sydney Parrish show. The forward knocked down two more threes, single-handedly sending the Ducks on a 9-0 run and forcing the Bears to call a timeout. During Parrish’s insane run, Oregon forced three turnovers en route to a 16-2 start. Scherr connected on two of her own from downtown, while Cal starting guard Jazlen Green also hit a couple threes. The Ducks recorded six assists in the first quarter against Cal, a huge improvement on the four assists recorded in the whole game against Stanford. The first ended with Oregon ahead 26-13.

Second Quarter

Oregon kept the pedal to the metal in the second. Paopao hit her second three of the game, and Parrish kept the rain coming with her fourth three. The defensive intensity was top-notch as well. The Ducks ended the first half with six steals and 10 total forced turnovers. Both teams hit a cold streak in the middle of the second quarter, and the fouls started to add up. The Bears were held at an ugly 28.6 field goal percentage for the second, and the Ducks' lead ballooned for a 50-27 halftime lead.

Third Quarter

It didn’t take long for the rain to return. Paopao connected on her fourth three-pointer of the day, so naturally Parrish knocked down two more of her own to bring her splash total to six. It wasn’t even half way through the third quarter, and the Ducks already scored a season-high thirteen three-pointers. Parrish’s 6-6 shooting start from the field (all three-pointers) was the most made shots in a row without a miss for the Ducks since Kaela Chapdelaine in 2008, according to GoDucks' Rob Moseley. Oregon got a bit sloppy as the third quarter went on, committing four turnovers in less than four minutes. The Ducks still outscored the Bears 19-14 and entered the final quarter up 69-41.

Fourth Quarter

With Oregon firmly in the lead with ten minutes left to play, Coach Graves was able to try out some new lineups and give playing time to the bench corps. Center Phillipina Kyei came in and scored two quick buckets down low. Nyara Sabally stayed in and showed her ability to facilitate the offense, racking up five assists to go with her 11 points and nine rebounds. Paopao also had quite the bounce back performance, with 21 points on 8-13 shooting and 4-5 on three-pointers. But it was Parrish who stole the show. The sophomore checked in one last time in the fourth and connected on her personal-best seventh three of the match. Cal got a strong 13 points from guard Jayda Curry, but it wasn’t enough and Oregon went on to win 88-53.

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