EUGENE, Ore. — Cate Reese scored 25 points and No. 10 Arizona completed a season sweep of 11th-ranked Oregon with a 79-59 win on Monday.
Reese, a 6-foot-2 junior who entered the game averaging 11.3 points, was 11 for 14 from the field while making all three of her 3-point attempts. Sam Thomas scored 14 points and Trinity Baptiste and Aari McDonald each added 13 points as the Wildcats shot 50.8% from the field.
“We keep raising the bar for ourselves,” Reese said. “I think we’re all pretty excited about the win.”
Arizona, which had been off for 17 days with four games postponed because of COVID-19, won consecutive games against the Ducks for the first time since 2011. Coach Adia Barnes dropped her first 10 games against Oregon before this season’s sweep, which kept the Wildcats (12-2, 10-2 Pac-12) in second place in the conference.
“Not playing for two weeks and coming on the road to Oregon, that was a little terrifying,” Barnes said. “But I thought we played really well. I thought we controlled the game, especially the first couple minutes. I thought it was a really great team effort.”
Nyara Sabally scored 17 points to lead the Ducks (12-4, 9-4), who dropped to fourth in the Pac-12. Sedona Prince scored 10 points while Taylor Mikesell and Te-Hina Paopao each had nine points as Oregon shot 32.4% from the field, including 3 for 15 on 3-pointers.
“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves,” Oregon coach Kelly Graves said. “We won this league three years in a row. You think they want payback? When they see us down they are going to attack us and make us pay.”
Arizona led 33-32 at halftime before outscoring the Ducks 27-14 in the third quarter.
The Wildcats opened the second half with a 9-2 run to go ahead 42-34 on a pair of free throws by Thomas. The Wildcats scored 13 straight points before Paopao made a 3-pointer to get the Ducks within 60-46 entering the final period.
“They pushed the intensity level up and we didn’t go with them, unfortunately,” Graves said. “It is disappointing. I don’t have any other words to say. We played hard to the finish, we just didn’t play that well.”
Reese and Thomas combined to score the first eight points of the game for Arizona, which extended its lead to 21-11 on a 3-pointer by Baptiste. Oregon followed with the final eight points of the first quarter, including back-to-back layups for Lydia Giomi, to get within 21-19.
Big picture
Arizona: The Wildcats dropped one spot in the AP poll on Monday, but remain ranked for the 28th straight week, a school record. Arizona has won seven of its last 10 games against ranked teams with one more on the schedule in two weeks when it faces No. 5 Stanford.
Oregon: The Ducks have had multiple players miss games this season, including starting guard Taylor Chavez and freshman Maddie Scherr, who were both sidelined Monday due to COVID-19 protocols. Only five Ducks have played in all 16 games this season with Paopao, a freshman point guard, the only one to start each game.
Up next
Arizona: Hosts Washington State on Friday before playing its final home game Sunday against Washington.
Oregon: Hosts last-place California on Friday before first-place Stanford visits on Monday.
