The Idaho Vandals women’s basketball traveled to Eugene, Oregon, to take on the 4-3 Orgon Ducks on Friday, with both teams looking to return to the win column.
The Vandals battled all game but ran out of gas in the end and fell to the Ducks 59-51, dropping them to 4-4 on the season. Under the bright lights of Matthew Knight Arena, the Vandals got the game’s first points.
Junior forward Kennedy Johnson got the game going with a jumper to put the Vandals on top. Johnson scored the first six points for the Vandals in a fast-moving first quarter. The Ducks went on a 5-2 run to end the quarter and took take a 16-12 lead into the second quarter.
Junior guard Ashlyn Wallace opened the second quarter with a three-pointer to cut the lead to one. However, it was all Ducks for the next few minutes. The Ducks scored nine unanswered points and pushed the once-one-point lead to ten.
The first three-pointer in the career of graduate forward Hope Butera broke the Vandals’ scoring drought, and the Ducks missed some end-of-half free throws, keeping the game in single digits. The Ducks took a 29-21 lead into the locker room.
The Vandals struggled on the offensive end in the first half. They finished the first half shooting 9/30 from the field and 3/14 from the three-point line and did not attempt a free throw in the first half. The Ducks were much more efficient on the offensive end. The Ducks shot 12/24 from the field, 0/5 from three and 5/12 from the free throw line.
Sophomore forward Grace VanSlooten led the Ducks with nine points in the half, and Johnson led the Vandals with eight. The second half began with a bucket by sophomore guard Chance Gray to put Oregon back up ten.
After that bucket, Idaho went go on an 8-0 run capped by a jumper by sophomore forward Sarah Brans to cut the Ducks lead to 31-28. The Vandals and the Ducks continued to battle it out in the third, going back and forth with the Ducks leading 43-36.
The Vandals needed a shot to go in, and they turned to senior guard Jenna Kilty, who knocked down a massive three and cut the deficit to 43-39. Neither team scored again in the third quarter, and the score heading into the fourth quarter was 43-39.
Idaho kept the momentum going, and Butera knocked down a three to cut the lead to 43-42. VanSlooten made a jumper and pushed the lead back to three, and the Ducks scored four more points to extend their lead.
Idaho would not go away, and a steal and a layup by graduate guard Amalie Langer would once again bring the deficit to just one. Idaho, however, ran out of gas, and the Ducks pulled away with eight free throws from Gray.
The Ducks closed out the Vandals 59-51 and ended their two-game losing streak. The Vandals found their offense in the second half, finishing the game 22/61 from the field, 7/28 from three, and 0/1 from the free throw line.
Johnson and Butera led the Vandals. Johnson finished with 15 points and six rebounds. Butera helped with 13 points and five rebounds to help keep the Vandals in the game.
In a game where many players struggled offensively for the Vandals including Langer, she found different ways to help her team. Langer finished with eight points on the night, but she also was a force on the defensive end ending with two steals and disrupting the Ducks offensive flow in the second half.
The Ducks were led by their three-headed monster in VanSlooten, Gray, and junior center Phillipina Kyei. Gray led the Ducks with 20 points, nine from the free-throw line. VanSlooten racked up another double-double, finishing with 17 points and ten rebounds for the Ducks.
Kyei was the most dominant player on the floor for both teams. She finished with 16 points and 17 rebounds and was a thorn in the Vandals’ side all night. The Vandals will look to rebound and get back in the win column as they host Grand Canyon University on Dec. 17 at 2 p.m.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected] or on X @JaydenBarfuss10