Oregon Advances to Third Straight Pac-12 Final
Las Vegas, NEV—As time inched ever closer to the start of the Pac-12 semifinals, the Mandalay Bay Event Center began to fill with a sea of green and yellow. The symbolizing colors of the Oregon Ducks. They came for one reason, to see their Ducks make it back to the Pac-12 Finals for a third year in a row.
They were not disappointed.
“If you're just a basketball fan, you would have had to have enjoyed it,” said Oregon Head Coach Kelly Graves about the game. “It was back and forth offensively and both teams were on point.”
With a show stopping performance from Sabrina Ionescu and Erin Boley the Oregon Ducks (30-2, 17-1 Pac-12) were able to hold of junior guard Aari McDonald and the Arizona Wildcats (24-7, 12-6 Pac-12) for the third time this season, 88-70.
“My team came ready to play,” said Ionescu. “When Erin shoots how she did, when Taylor shoots it and Jaz shoots it like they have been, it makes my job easy.”
Oregon got the ball rolling in the first quarter behind the hot-hand of Boley, scoring 10 quick points within the first three minutes. However, McDonald would answer right back, scoring seven points of her own, keeping the Wildcats within reach of Oregon’s lead.
But In the second quarter, the Ducks would pull away with Ionescu stepping up to the plate and scoring two clutch threes, electrifying the Oregon bench.
Freshmen guard Jaz Shelly and Sophomore Taylor Chavez would each add a three of their own helping the Ducks drain seven threes by the end of the first half.
“In the end, we had a great shooting night from the three again,” said Graves. “I thought they had to gamble a little bit and gave up open looks and we knocked them down tonight.”
Arizona tried to comeback coming out of halftime behind McDonald’s 34-point night, but Ionescu would rise to the challenge scoring 17 out of her 31 points in the second half.
With back-to-back three pointers late in the fourth, Ionescu would put the game out of reach.
Ionescu’s final two threes of the game would break a Pac-12 Tournament record for most points scored (230).
“I don't really think too much about myself and what I'm doing,” said Ionescu. “I’m just honored and humbled to be a part of something bigger than myself and playing for these people around me that I love.”
Up Next: The Ducks will take on the Stanford Cardinal this Sunday for the title of Pac-12 Champion. This has been a theme in the Pac-12 tournament with these two teams meeting here in four consecutive years and three of those meetings coming in the championship game.
