Oregon women open Pac-12 tourney with 70-63 win over Arizona

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) – Sabrina Ionescu scored 22 points and Ruthy Hebard had a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds and Oregon pulled away from Arizona for a 70-63 win Thursday night in a first-round game of the Pac-12 Conference Tournament.

No. 6 seed Oregon (19-12) advanced to play third seed Washington Friday night.

Arizona, the 11th seed, led 44-41 at the end of three before the Ducks opened it up offensively in the last stanza and scored 29 points. Maite Cazorla’s layup knotted the score at 50 with 7:16 left before Mallory McGwire put Oregon up for good with a jumper.

McGwire finished with 14 points and she, Ionescu and Hebard combined to make 20 of Oregon’s 25 field goals.

Oregon appeared headed for a blowout building a 10-1 lead after Ionescu buried a 3 with 5:48 left in the first. The Wildcats fought back with an 11-4 run to close the quarter and led 29-27 at halftime.

LaBrittney Jones scored 23 points for Arizona (14-16) and Malena Washington and Lucia Alonso each scored 14.