University of Oregon’s Women’s Basketball Team Advances To First-Ever Final Four

The University of Oregon’s women’s basketball team might’ve been among the top 10 teams in the nation by the end college basketball’s regular season, but found itself standing among the Final Four teams in the nation.

While the Ducks only had a short stay in Tampa, Florida (home of the women’s Final Four), after the team is able to extricate themselves from the inevitable disappointment of their loss against Baylor University, they should be able to take plenty of pride in bringing the program its first-ever Final Four appearance.

Enjoying the home court advantage in the rounds leading up to the Final Four, Oregon made quick work of their first three opponents leading up to the Elite Eight, beating all three of them by double-digits. But in order to get past where they did last year, they’d have to deal with the region’s top seed – the Mississippi State Bulldogs, who themselves entered the tournament ranked as one of the top four teams in the nation, and anchored by future WNBA player Teaira McCowan.

However, it was Oregon’s duo of Sabrina Ionescu – the current favorite to herself be the #1 pick in the upcoming WNBA Draft – and Satou Sabally who combined for 53 of Oregon’s 88 points, in their 88-84 win. Ironically enough, two of the Bulldogs’ three total losses this season were at the hands of Oregon, with both of them taking place in the state of Oregon.

In the matchup against Baylor, who was the #1 team in the nation entering the tournament, the proverbial clock struck 12 on Ionescu’s magic, as the Ducks’ star player struggled mightily amidst all the attention the Bears devoted in her direction. Connecting on only 6 of 24 field goal attempts throughout the game, she finished with 18 points in the game, though the 25% field goal percentage represented her third-worst output of the season.

Meanwhile, the Bears simply played to their collective strengths, using some of their most athletic perimeter players to stop Oregon’s perimeter-based attack (the Ducks scored 36 of their points from three-point attempts), while exploiting the Ducks’ lack of size with their own presence down low in the paint. The ladies playing in the post for Baylor scored 43 points in the game (on 18 of 26 shooting), while completely shutting off Oregon’s own offense in the paint. Case in point? Oregon center Ruthy Hebard came into the contest averaging 16.4 points per game, but scored a grand total of four points on four field goal attempts.

It’ll be interesting to see if history repeats itself, in terms of the team that sent Oregon home. Last year, the Ducks fell to eventual champion Notre Dame; this year, Baylor is set to take on the Fighting Irish in the NCAA Women’s Tournament Final after their 72-67 win over Oregon.

But even while they’ll be forced to watch the results unfold from the last place in the world they wanted to be (at home viewing the game from their respective couches), there’s plenty of positives for Oregon coach Kelly Graves and his team to take away.