Ducks Elude Cougars, Winning Streak Ends

EUGENE -- The Oregon Ducks women's basketball team tamed the surging BYU Cougars Saturday in Eugene, beating the Cougars 70-61 and ending the their five-game win streak.

"We made a lot of mental mistakes that hurt us," BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said. "I think that we were just trying too hard. We just need to do a better job of not making those mistakes."

BYU held the lead only twice in the game, the last time coming with the score at 6-5 with just over 14 minutes left in the first half. BYU's Lauren Riley fought to keep her team close in the first half, scoring 11 points and bringing down seven boards, but the Cougars' turnovers and poor shooting were too much for Riley to overcome.

BYU was down 23-21 with 3:10 to go in the half after a Riley three-point play and field goals from both Melinda Johnsen and Dani Kubik Wright, but Oregon stifled any hopes of a comeback by out-scoring the Cougars 7-2 in those final three minutes. Although BYU's field goal percentage was 46 compared to Oregon's 40 at the half, the Ducks had made more shots, including three triples to BYU's none.

The second half was much closer as the Ducks out-scored the Cougars by only two, 40-38, but it was not enough to get the blue and white on top at all during the second half. BYU pulled within five at 42-37 with 10:42 left in the game on back-to-back scores by sophomore Shawnee Slade, but the Ducks had their largest lead of the game at 12 by the six-minute mark.

With just under two minutes to play in the game, the Cougars were within six, 59-53, when they were forced to play the free-throw game. Unfortunately for the Cougars, the Ducks were lights-out from the line in the final minutes hitting 11-for-12 and icing the game.

Wright led all scorers with 20 points and 8 rebounds while Riley finished with 13 points and Johnsen with 10. The Cougars out-rebounded the Ducks 37-29, but the normally tre-minded Cougars hit only two of 14 from behind on the arc.

The Ducks' leading scorer was Eleanor Haring with 16 points, while Cicely Oaks, Kaela Chapdelaine and Tamika Nurse had 12, 11 and 11, respectively.

"Oregon played really well tonight; they're a very good team," Judkins said.

With the loss, BYU falls to 9-4 going into conference play and Oregon improves to 9-3. The Cougars begin Mountain-West-Conference action on the road at Air Force on Saturday, January 6 at 4 p.m. MST.

Official Basketball Box Score
BYU vs Oregon
12/30/06 7:05 p.m. at Eugene, Ore. (McArthur Court)
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VISITORS: BYU 9-4
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
35 JOHNSEN, Melinda.... f  4-8    0-3    2-4    0  0  0   3  10  4  0  0  1  32
45 WRIGHT, Dani........ f  8-12   0-0    4-6    4  4  8   1  20  2  4  2  0  31
52 RILEY, Lauren....... c  6-12   0-0    1-3    3  6  9   5  13  1  4  0  2  26
15 KEELE, Jennie....... g  1-6    1-3    0-0    1  5  6   4   3  3  3  0  1  30
30 GILLESPIE, Mallary.. g  1-12   0-5    2-2    1  1  2   4   4  4  5  0  0  35
05 Cheesman, Ashley....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  0  0  0   4
13 JUDKINS, Jaime......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
31 AINA, Rachel........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
32 SLADE, Shawnee......    4-8    0-2    0-0    0  1  1   2   8  2  2  0  1  30
54 KING, Cassie........    1-2    1-1    0-0    0  2  2   2   3  1  0  0  0  10
   TEAM................                         4  5  9
   Totals..............   25-60   2-14   9-15  13 24 37  22  61 17 18  2  5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-22 45.5%   2nd Half: 15-38 39.5%   Game: 41.7%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  0-3   0.0%   2nd Half:  2-11 18.2%   Game: 14.3%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-5  60.0%   2nd Half:  6-10 60.0%   Game: 60.0%    5
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HOME TEAM: Oregon 9-3
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
11 CHAPDELAINE, Kaela.. f  2-4    1-2    6-8    1  2  3   1  11  3  2  0  0  31
54 HARING, Eleanor..... f  7-16   0-0    2-2    2  3  5   2  16  1  5  1  0  33
43 SHETTERS, Jessie.... c  3-6    0-0    1-2    2 11 13   3   7  2  2  4  0  29
03 Nurse, Tamika....... g  1-3    1-2    8-8    0  2  2   3  11  3  2  0  0  34
30  OAKS, Cicely....... g  3-6    0-2    6-6    0  0  0   4  12  6  1  0  0  31
01 Lilley, Taylor......    2-3    2-3    2-2    1  0  1   1   8  0  2  0  0  13
02 Cocks, Micaela......    0-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0  11
33 HAWKINS, Jamie......    1-3    0-0    0-1    1  0  1   0   2  0  0  0  0   5
51 GANES, Carolyn......    1-6    0-4    1-2    0  3  3   0   3  0  0  0  0  13
   TEAM................                            1  1
   Totals..............   20-48   4-13  26-31   7 22 29  14  70 15 14  5  0 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-30 40.0%   2nd Half:  8-18 44.4%   Game: 41.7%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-7  42.9%   2nd Half:  1-6  16.7%   Game: 30.8%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-5  60.0%   2nd Half: 23-26 88.5%   Game: 83.9%   2,1
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Officials: Chuck Gonzalez, Marianne Karp, Bob Scofield
Technical fouls: BYU-None. Oregon-None.
Attendance: 3100
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
BYU...........................   23   38  -   61
Oregon........................   30   40  -   70