Ionescu scores 29, No. 3 Oregon beats No. 9 Oregon St 77-68
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) – Sabrina Ionescu had 29 points and nine assists, and No. 3 Oregon beat No. 9 Oregon State 77-68 Friday night for its 17th straight win.
Ruthy Hebard added 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Ducks (24-1, 13-0 Pac-12), who have the longest active winning streak in the nation. Oregon improved to 6-0 against ranked teams this season.
Destiny Slocum had 19 points for Oregon State, which trailed 39-35 at the half. The Beavers (20-5, 10-3) pulled to 64-60 on Slocum’s jumper with 5:20 left but it was as close as they could get.
The in-state Civil War rivalry continues on Monday when the two teams meet in Corvallis.
The Ducks were coming off a decisive 88-48 win at then-No. 11 Stanford. The win snapped a 29-game losing streak for the Ducks at Maples Pavilion, and also snapped the Cardinal’s 22-game home winning streak.
The Beavers were coming off an 82-74 victory over Cal, but fell to Stanford 61-44 on the Northern California swing to drop two places in this week’s rankings.
Hebard hit consecutive layups to pull the Ducks up 18-13 in the opening quarter. She added a rebound basket that extended the lead to 25-18.
But Oregon State answered with a 12-2 run to pull in front 30-27. Ionescu hit a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer to regain the lead for the Ducks.
Oregon, which went into the game averaging a national-best 90.2 points a game, led 39-35 at the half, with Ionescu leading all scorers with 13 points, as well as seven assists. Aleah Goodman led the Beavers with 10 points at the break.
Ionescu’s 3-pointer gave Oregon a 49-40 lead in the third quarter. The reigning Pac-12 Player of the Week hit another 3 to put the Ducks up 56-46 going into the fourth quarter. The Ducks led by as many as 11 points in the final period.
The game was a sellout, just the second for the women at Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks sold out the team’s first game at the arena, also against the Beavers, on Jan. 23, 2011.
BIG PICTURE
Oregon State: The Beavers split last season’s two-game Civil War Series with the Ducks, with each team winning at home. … Oregon State is in the midst of a run with four Top 25 teams in five games: Then No 17 Utah, then No. 11 Stanford and the two games against the Ducks. … Pivec reached the 1,000 career points mark with a second-quarter layup.
Oregon: The Ducks, Baylor, Louisville, and Mississippi State were the No. 1 seeds in the first NCAA Top 16 reveal on Monday. If the seedings hold, Oregon would stay near home as the top team in Portland. Oregon State was a No. 3 seed. The NCAA will have one more reveal of the top 16 teams on March 4 before Selection Monday, which is on March 18.
UP NEXT
The two teams meet again on Monday at Oregon State.
