Hebard leads No. 9 Oregon over Washington State 90-79
PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) – Ruthy Hebard scored 29 points, hitting all 12 of her field goal attempts, as No. 9 Oregon beat Washington State 90-79 on Sunday, to remain in a tie for first place in the Pac-12.
Satou Sabally and Sabrina Ionescu each added 17 points for Oregon (23-4, 12-2 Pac-12), which shot 80 percent in the first half and 62 percent for the game.
Borislava Hristova scored 22 points for Washington State (10-16, 3-11), which was coming off an overtime loss to No. 16 Oregon State on Friday.
The Ducks welcomed back Lexi Bando, the nation’s active career leader in 3-point shooting at 45.5 percent, from injury. She scored nine points.
Oregon made 12 of 13 shots in the first quarter to take a 26-20 lead. Alexys Swedlund had 11 first quarter points for WSU.
The Ducks went on a 10-2 run to open the second quarter, behind a pair of 3-pointers by Bando, to take control.
Oregon shot 80 percent in the first half (20 of 25) for a 48-34 lead at halftime. Hebard, who also made all five of her free throws, had 16 points in the first half for Oregon to reach exactly 1,000 for her career.
The Ducks opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run to push their lead to 57-34. But Washington State closed on a 22-9 run to pull within 66-56 at the end of the third.
The teams traded baskets in the fourth but the Cougars could not overcome their deficit.
BIG PICTURE
Oregon: The Ducks are looking for their first league title since the 2000 season. The Ducks are 12th in the nation in scoring with an average of 83 points per game. Ionescu is averaging a Pac-12 leading 19.5 points, plus seven rebounds and seven assists per game and is a finalist for numerous national awards.
Washington State: The Cougars were playing without Louise Brown, Nike McClure and Caila Hailey, who were suspended for a violation of team rules. Coming in, they had lost five of six games. They are led in scoring by Hristova, who is averaging 18.7 points per game, the only Cougar in double figures.
UP NEXT
Oregon hosts Southern California on Friday.
Washington State plays at Utah on Friday.
