The Oregon women’s basketball team dropped its first game of the season on the road in a stunner against Grand Canyon Nov. 9 in Phoenix, 81-74.
The Ducks (2-1) shot the ball poorly, struggled with turnovers and didn’t defend nearly well enough in a shocking loss to the Antelopes (2-0) in the first of three straight road games this week.
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Oregon trailed by as many as 18 in the third quarter before putting together a too-little, too-late rally over the final 15 minutes in the loss, shooting under 40% from the field and just 9 for 30 from 3-point range.
“They came out with the intensity that we just didn’t have,” coach Kelly Graves told KUGN radio postgame. “That’s what dug the hole.”
On the other end, GCU shot 9 for 13 from 3-point land, made 26 of its 29 free throw attempts and outrebounded Oregon 35-30, led by Dasha Biriuk’s 20 points.
The Ducks were led by four double figure scorers in Ari Long (19 points), Ehis Etute (16 points), Mallory Heyer (16 points) and Katie Fiso (14 points). Oregon had just seven bench points, all from freshman Brooklynn Haywood.
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“I thought we played hero ball,” Graves said. “Everybody was playing a little bit out of character, we played a lot of 1-on-1, and we’re not good enough to do that. We’re built to use five players, to face the floor, to execute, and we just didn’t.”
UO heads to the East Coast for its next pair of road games, with the first against Vermont Wednesday and the second vs. Maine on Friday.
Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football and women’s basketball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com.
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This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon women’s basketball drops shocker to Grand Canyon
