Oregon Falls to Louisville, Exits NCAA Tournament in Sweet 16
Oregon entered Sunday's game against Louisville knowing that it was in for a big challenge. The ACC champions were in a hole early against Northwestern last round and came storming back to get the win.
Both teams started off with cold shooting and we had a tight game at the end of the first quarter, with Louisville holding a narrow 10-8 lead. Sedona Prince picked up two quick fouls in the early going and Kelly Graves was forced to pull the dominant post player.
To make things even tougher, freshman guard Maddie Scherr tweaked her ankle in the first quarter and the trainers iced the area while she was getting evaluated on the sideline. She tried some light running in the tunnel but didn't look particularly confident in putting a lot of weight on the ankle. She did not play in the second quarter.
While the Ducks tried to figure things out on offense, Louisville was converting turnovers into easy points and commanding the post, snagging rebounds at a much higher rate than Oregon. Nyara Sabally got some early blocked shots but otherwise served as one of very few bright spots for the Ducks in an ugly first half.
Dana Evans found her stride in the second quarter and the defense had no answer for her. She would lead all scorers at the half with 13 points, while the Ducks had three players with 4 points and was 0-9 from three point range.
Louisville led Oregon 29-14 at the half.
The Ducks would be without Maddie Scherr in the second half, making it even more difficult to slow down Dana Evans. Oregon's offense got things going in the third quarter, scoring 19 points.
This was an encouraging sign after an abysmal 14-point first half showing. Nyara Sabally scored 10 points on 4-4 shooting in the third quarter, getting some help from Erin Boley who had 7 points of her own in the quarter.
Dana Evans continued to be all over the court and the defense had no answer for her. Things got worse for the Ducks when Nyara Sabally went down in pain after landing on Taylor Chavez's foot.
Sabally was helped off the court and was heavily favoring her left ankle, having a hard time putting any weight on it. With injuries decimating the Ducks, Erin Boley and Sedona Prince were the only proven scoring options on the floor, but combined for only 10 points.
Louisville continued to score and the Ducks couldn't get cooking on offense, going 3-14 shooting in the fourth quarter. Dana Evans finished with 29 points and Louisville won 60-42.
Final Stats
Nyara Sabally: 14 pts (6-8 FG), 7 reb, 3 blk
Erin Boley: 14 pts (6-17 FG, 2-8 3pt FG), 11 reb
Sedona Prince: 10 pts (4-10 FG), 3 reb, 3 blk
Sydney Parrish: 2 pts (1-6 FG), 4 reb, 1 stl
Taylor Mikesell: 2 pts (1-9 FG), 4 reb, 3 ast 2 stl
