Oregon Roars Back to Upset No. 7 Arizona 68-66 in OT Thriller

Endyia Rogers hits the last-second shot as Ducks storm back from 17-point deficit.

Author:
Graham Metzker
Publish date:
Jan 15, 2022 8:33 PM EST

Pregame

The Oregon starting lineup remained unchanged from the last two games, as forward Sedona Prince came off the bench in her first game back.

First Quarter

The No. 7-ranked Wildcats showed their defensive grit early. Oregon missed its first six shot attempts, with Sydney Parrish finally breaking the cold spell with a layup after four minutes of play. But Arizona recorded three quick fouls to let the Ducks keep close early with a score of 9-6 for Arizona at the first break in play.

Oregon turned up the intensity after the media timeout. The Ducks brought in Prince off the bench for an immediate impact — she blocked a shot, grabbed a steal, and found an open Te-Hina Paopao for three. But Arizona’s Shaina Pellington hit a few layups to bring her first quarter total to six points, and the Cats would start the second quarter with a 17-15 lead.

Second Quarter

Every time a shot went up, a battle began under the hoop for the rebound. Both squads brought the contact in the post, and both teams racked up the fouls as consequence. Oregon used the constant trips to the free throw line to nearly catch up to Arizona at 23-21.

After a set of substitutions, the Cats were back on the prowl. They rattled off eight straight points in less than a minute, including two three-pointers from the veteran Cate Reese. The Cats kept it rolling and scored on six of their final seven possessions of the quarter. Oregon was able to stop the bleeding thanks to a jumper from Prince before time expired, but the Ducks had plenty of work to do with the second half closing with Arizona leading 38-27.

Third Quarter

The Oregon offense looked out of tune. The only thing keeping the Ducks from drowning was their perfect free throw percentage, hitting their first 18 from the charity stripe — an impressive mark for a team that shot 68.6% from the free-throw line coming into the game.

While the Wildcat offense was hitting field goals, the Duck offense could only muster free throws, and Arizona took its largest lead at 54-37 with 1:44 remaining in the third. With a 54-41 deficit at the end of three, the Ducks needed a big change to give themselves a chance in the final period.

Fourth Quarter

Prince showed her worth by scoring the Ducks' first four points of the quarter. Paopao then found some space off a screen for the three-ball. 20-piece for Paopao, six-point ballgame.

The buckets started to flow like water. Arizona starter Bendu Yeaney hit a three to stop the 11-0 UO run, but two more Prince buckets forced a timeout with a 57-52 Arizona lead and four minutes left.

Again, it was Prince who made the difference for the Ducks. She grabbed her own missed layup and put it back in to give her 10 fourth quarter points, cutting the lead to two with 1:05 left in regulation. A huge Wildcat turnover gave Oregon the ball, and Nyara Sabally stepped up to send the game to OT with a layup.

Overtime

Sabally gave the Ducks their first lead since it was 13-11 in the first quarter, but she missed three crucial free throws and allowed the Cats to grab a one point lead back. Paopao zoomed to the hoop a play later for a lay and the lead, and Endyia Rogers hit two big free throws to give the Ducks a 66-63 lead with just 20 seconds left. But the Cats coolly responded with a straightaway triple from Portland native Bendu Yeaney to tie it with 10 seconds left.

Enter Endyia Rogers. The guard collected a missed Parrish three and quickly hit a sideline J at the buzzer for the Ducks' 68-66 win on just her second made FG of the day. Paopao dropped a career-high 24 points despite battling an illness, while Yeaney had 14 and three boards for Arizona.

Oregon moves to 9-5 on the season and 2-1 in Pac-12 play. Up next is a much-anticipated matchup between the Ducks and No. 10 UConn at Matthew Knight Arena on Monday at 2:00 p.m. on ESPN2.

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