12-Seed Belmont Upsets 5-Seed Oregon 73-70 in Double-Overtime Thriller

Pregame

The Ducks had a couple of players to watch with injuries during warmups with Sydney Parrish dealing with a foot injury and Maddie Scherr battling an ankle injury. Both looked good during warmups, with Parrish in the starting lineup for Oregon.

First Quarter

The Ducks left their offense on the bus early in the first quarter, missing some easy shots at the rim and behind the arc. They began just 1-9 from the field, with the only bucket coming from Nyara Sabally on an and-one putback, but she couldn't convert on the free throw.

Belmont took advantage of the Ducks' poor shooting and poor defensive energy early, knocking down three straight attempts from three to take a 9-2 lead. The ref's whistle to signal Kelly Graves' early timeout was drowned out by the Belmont faithful celebrating the hot start.

The upstart Bruins shoot 44% of their field goal attempts from three this season, and they remained true to their philosophy early with six of their first eight shot attempts coming from deep.

Oregon dominated the offensive glass in the first quarter, snagging six of its misses but only turning those into two second-chance points.

With the Ducks desperately needing to make some plays, Kylee Watson swatted a three-pointer leading to a Te-Hina Paopao layup in transition. But the buckets were few and far between for Oregon, who shot just 4-19 in the opening period and 0-4 from three. Belmont led 13-8 after one.

Second Quarter

Graves inserted a defensive lineup to start the second quarter with Scherr and Chanaya Pinto coming off the bench. Belmont had just one turnover in the first quarter and gave it back to the Ducks three times in the first two minutes of the second.

The Ducks were at their best early in transition, using their speed to their advantage. Another Bruins turnover led to a run out for Oregon, and Scherr dished it to Endyia Rogers for a layup on the break.

After another triple from Belmont, the Ducks offense found a spark. Paopao came off the bench with a three-pointer to break the spell from deep, and Sabally's layup gave Oregon its first lead at 17-16.

Paopao drove into the heart of the defense and converted a floater, while Sabally scored on a putback layup to give Oregon a five-point lead on a 9-0 run. The defensive intensity increased in the second quarter, leading to more efficient offensive sets and aggressive shots.

Scherr found herself open from the wing after her defender fell down, and she splashed the triple. Blair Schoenwald silenced the 12-0 Oregon run with an open three.

Sabally beat the shot clock with a long jumper as part of her 10 points in the second quarter. After an abysmal first quarter offensively, the Ducks shot 47% from the field in the second.

But Belmont's three-point shooting kept it in the game, hitting three more from deep. Nikki Baird grabbed an offensive rebound and rattled it in at the buzzer to cut the Oregon lead to 28-26 at halftime.

In the first half, Oregon's bigs dominated Belmont on the glass, outrebounding the Bruins 26-15, including 11-2 on the offensive boards.

Te-Hina Paopao keeps the ball in play.

Third Quarter

Belmont's leading scorer Destinee Wells was held without a field goal in the first half, but she came out of the locker room with an aggressive mindset. She knocked down a pullup jumper and then drove into the paint and scored in traffic plus the foul. Her free throw gave the Bruins a 33-32 lead.

25 of Oregon's first 32 points came from Sabally and Paopao. Ahlise Hurst came right off the bench and drilled a triple to put the Ducks back in front.

Sabally continued to force her will in the third, spinning and banking in a layup and earning a free throw to give the Ducks a 38-34 lead.

Neither team was able to pull away in the third, with the Ducks remaining on top 40-36 heading into the fourth. Both teams have shot poorly from all three levels, but the Ducks matched Belmont on both ends.

Kylee Watson blocks Tessa Miller in the paint.

Fourth Quarter

Sabally came into this game with plenty of noise about what her future looks like, but all she was worried about was dominating this game. She opened the fourth quarter with another layup to give her 19 points.

Belmont finally woke up from three, with Tuti Jones catching fire with back-to-back triples to tie the game at 42. She answered with a floater in the lane to give her a personal 8-0 run and forcing an Oregon timeout. The floater was her first two-point make, as she had made all four of her three-point attempts.

For the Ducks, they've answered every Belmont triple with Sabally going to work down low. Her right hook in the paint tied it, but Jamilyn Kinney splashed a three to give Belmont back the lead and get the home crowd rocking. Despite Oregon technically being the "home team," Belmont brought the party to Knoxville.

All-OVC First Team selection Madison Bartley was held out for most of the fourth quarter after picking up her fourth foul late in the third. Head Coach Bart Brooks inserted her into the game, and she delivered with a clutch three to put Belmont up 50-44 with 4:51 left.

Any time Wells drove past an Oregon guard, Sabally would swat the shot into the cheerleaders section. But Oregon couldn't convert on the other end with back-to-back turnovers from Prince with the Ducks still trailing 50-48.

After a steal from Sabally, she dished it to an open Prince for a layup, knotting the game at 50-50 with 1:40 left.

With a chance to take the lead with under a minute left, Rogers drove into the lane but barreled into Conley Chinn, who drew the charge. On the other end, Scherr was called for a foul, leading to Wells knocking down a pair of free throws to give Belmont a 52-50 lead with 24.5 seconds left.

Sabally got a great look in the paint, pump faking and shooting over the defender, but the shot wouldn't fall. Jones grabbed the rebound and drew a foul on Sabally to put her on the foul line.

Jones hit the first free throw and missed the second. Graves called the timeout to advance the ball and set up a chance to tie the game with a three. The Ducks shot just 3-16 from outside leading up to their final possession of regulation.

Sabally drove toward the basket and dished to a wide-open Paopao in the corner, who cashed the clutch triple to tie the game at 53-53 with 7.9 ticks left.

On the final possession, the Ducks locked up on defense, with Scherr cutting off a backdoor path for Jones. Baird chucked up a three, but Sabally got a piece of it to send the game to overtime.

Endyia Rogers shoots over Blair Schoenwald.

Overtime

Off of the opening tip, Paopao took it right to the cup for two.

Sabally's defense changed this game for Oregon, altering plenty of shots all over the court. On offense, she remained automatic, spinning away from two defenders and scoring her 25th point.

After a pair of Sabally free throws to extend the lead to 59-53, Baird splashed a three to prevent any further bleeding.

With Oregon leading 61-56 and needing to milk the clock, Jones stole a bad pass and scored on the break to make it a three-point margin. Prince and Wells traded baskets, but a poor shot from Paopao with too much time left on the clock gave Belmont a prime chance to tie it.

And Chinn did just that with a wild three that banked off the glass and in to tie the game at 63. Prince drew a foul on an offensive rebound, hitting one of two free throws.

Belmont was saved from a near turnover by a foul being called on Sabally to put Baird at the line. She hit one of two to tie the game at 64-64.

Sabally got the ball with seconds left, took a step (probably an extra step) into the paint and missed right at the rim, and Belmont grabbed the rebound with 2.5 seconds left and advanced the ball with a timeout.

On the inbound, Bartley found an opening in the paint, but Sabally raced to her and swatted the potential game-winning layup to send it to a second overtime.

Second Overtime

Prince found Sabally up top for a layup to open up the second overtime period. Then the 6-foot-7 star snagged a defensive board, received a pass and scored right through her defender.

But Jones wouldn't let the Ducks pull away. She drilled a clutch jumper just inside the three-point line, then stole it from Scherr for a coast-to-coast layup, tying it again at 68.

Sabally's layup gave her a career-high 31 points and an Oregon lead, then Chinn scored again to tie it.

Wells delivered two free throws to put Belmont in front for the first time since the fourth quarter. Scherr missed a shot with the shot clocking winding down, and after yet another offensive board by Oregon, Rogers' wide-open three clanked off the rim and fell into the hands of Bartley with 6.5 seconds left.

Wells drew a foul, and the 75% foul shooter missed the first and made the second. Oregon took a timeout to advance it one more time, needing a three to tie.

The ball found Prince, who was forced to throw up a desperation three at the buzzer, but it wouldn't fall. For the second year in a row, Belmont won in the first round of the NCAA Tournament as a 12-seed.

Oregon's four-year streak of advancing to at least the Sweet 16 ends, with the Ducks finishing the season with a 20-12 record.

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