Prior to Saturday night, the USA Women's National Basketball team has only lost to a college team once, Tennessee on Nov. 7th in 1999. In the final tune-up for the No. 1 Oregon Ducks, they found themselves sharing the court with the best basketball team in the world. The Ducks would go on to take down Team USA by a final score of 93-86.
Team USA featured legendary basketball players such as Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Kelsey Plum, and others in their matchup with the Ducks. Oregon played like a team unfazed by the pure star power of Team USA.
For the first half, Oregon’s offense was led by the inside duo of Ruthy Hebard and Satou Sabally as the two combined for 23 of Oregon’s 38 first-half points. Hebard, in traditional fashion, scored a majority of her points via the pick and roll and crashing the offensive glass. Hebard also added nine first-half rebounds. Sabally, who had not played in the Green vs. Yellow scrimmage on October 30th, scored nine points on 4-10 shooting in the first half.
The Ducks found themselves down just four at halftime with their best player, Sabrina Ionescu, only scoring five points. The two-time Pac-12 Player of the Year added in four assists and two rebounds in 16 first-half minutes.
For Team USA, the inside presence of Nnemkadi Ogwumike and Sylvia Fowles was too much for the Ducks to handle. The duo, similar to Hebard and Sabally, combined for 24 points on 11-12 shooting and 10 rebounds. Taurasi was also effective in the first half, adding nine points on three, three-pointers.
In the second half, it was clear that Ionescu would do whatever it took to win this basketball game. From diving into the camera-well to dropping 20 points in the third quarter, Ionescu was going to win. Ionescu would go on to drop 25 points in the second half on 8-13 shooting including three assists. The intensity level of the third and fourth quarters from Ionescu, on both sides of the ball, was unmatched by anyone on the court. Ionescu would go on to finish the night with 30 points, four rebounds, and seven assists.
"As the game continued to go on, we kind of forgot about who they were, and what the expectations were of them beating us, " Said Ionescu following the win on Saturday night. "We were just trying to play our game and play to perfection. I think a lot of people stepped up big tonight, including our freshman and returners and even Minyon Moore."
Sabally continued her terrific first half by dominating the second half. In front of 11,530 fans, Sabally dropped 16 points in the second half including tremendously clutch three-pointers. Sabally would finish her night with 25 points and six rebounds. Alongside Sabally was Minyon Moore, a grad-transfer from USC, who showed tenacity on both sides of the ball and huge confidence in driving to the rim unafraid of what was coming next. Oregon was also impressive on the glass, grabbing a total of 34 rebounds and 12 offensive rebounds, compared to Team USA's 29 total rebounds and only six offensive rebounds.
"To outrebound them (Team USA) by five, I would've thought that was undoable," Said coach Kelly Graves after the win. "I was really proud of the effort there, it was everybody. And even late in that game when those rebounds were going on the floor and we were going down to get them, I thought you could tell how important this was to our team."
For Team USA, the scoring was distributed a little more evenly, as both Diana Taurasi and Seimone Augustus scored eight points in the second half. Team USA shot the ball well in the second half, combining for 57% from the field but ultimately, Oregon’s clutch shooting on the three-pointer was too much.
The Ducks will celebrate this win until Monday, November 11th, when they square off against Northeastern at Matthew Knight Arena at 3 PM.