Ducks Bow Out Against Utah 80-73 in Pac-12 Semifinals

During a second half collapse, Nyara Sabally's fifth foul turned the tides as Utah cruised to the championship game.

First Quarter

Utah’s Gianna Kneepkens opened the game with a three on her 19th birthday. She then added two free throws on the next trip down to take a quick 5-0 lead.

Sedona Prince put the Ducks on the board with a mid-range jump-shot. Nyara Sabally then went into point guard mode by taking the ball down, missed the shot, then put back her own miss.

Sabally then hit a free throw-line jumper to give Oregon its first lead at 8-7. The Oregon bigs had scored the first eight points, utilizing its size advantage over the Utes, but then the Ducks began to beat Utah at its own game. Sydney Parrish hit a three, and Endyia Rogers scored in transition plus a foul to make it 16-7.

Kylee Watson hit a sweet hook shot as she had four points, three rebounds and two assists in the five minutes of action in the first quarter. Sher bucket capped off a 14-0 run for the Ducks. On the other end, Dasia Young's three silenced the run.

Prince made it a 20-10 lead as she went 4-5 from the field in the quarter with eight points as she displayed great touch on her jumper.

Rogers then knocked down the three to push the lead to 25-14 to end the first. Oregon played great defense in the opening frame as Utah is the highest-scoring offense in the Pac-12.

Second Quarter

The second quarter started with great defensive intensity for Oregon as Maddie Scherr drew an offensive foul on Jenna Johnson. Then, Rogers stole the ball for the Utes' sixth turnover in the first 12 minutes. Oregon’s bigs held a block party as both Prince and Sabally had big swats on Johnson in back-to-back plays.

Despite the defense, the Ducks failed to box out as the Utes repeatedly earned second looks on offense. This allowed the Utes to whittle down the score to 37-32 with 2:07 left in the first half.

Both teams looked sloppy from there as they combined to miss their final nine shots to finish the half. However, the Utes did trim an 11-point deficit to five using a balanced scoring attack. Utah had six different players score in the second quarter.

The game's leading scorers at the half were Rogers and Prince for Oregon with eight apiece and the Utes were led by Kneepkens with seven.

Te-Hina Paopao

© Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

Gianna Kneepkens

© Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

Third Quarter

Kneepkens began the second half by swishing a three-pointer to make it 37-35 as she became the first player in double figures.

With both teams playing tough defense, Prince streaked down the floor and finished to get the Ducks their first basket at the 8:19 mark. Then Johnson and Kennady McQueen blitzed the Ducks with back-to-back threes to snatch the lead at 41-40. It was their first lead since it was 7-6 in the first quarter.

Sabally once again switched to her point guard mode as she drew the blocking foul on McQueen. After she split the free throws to knot it up at 41-41, Keepens drilled another three to make it 44-41. The league's top three-point shooting team in the regular season was starting to feel it after a slow start in the first half.

The game suddenly got more physical as the Utes turned up the hustle on both sides. This led to Johnson getting a layup in transition as Kelly Graves called a timeout as his team went down 46-41.

The Utes continued to pour it on as they went on an 11-1 run, capped off by a Brynna Maxwell triple. A big factor was the Utes improved ball-handling in the second half, reducing turnovers after they had seven in the first half.

The third stanza had officially turned into a nightmare as Sabally committed an offensive foul on a screen. It was her fourth foul of the game.

At the buzzer, Kneepkens's reverse layup over Prince gave the Utes a 55-45 lead going into the fourth. The freshman guard scored eight points and assisted on three baskets in the quarter. The biggest takeaway from the quarter was Utah hitting 5-12 threes in the third after going 4-14 in the first half.

For the Ducks, this was a disaster as they failed to convert a field goal since the 8:19 mark, shooting just 1-12 in the quarter. It looked like they were in control early, but Utah pulled the carpet from beneath their feet.

Fourth Quarter

The Ducks came out with fire in their eyes as Prince scored in the paint — their first field goal in almost nine minutes. The forward then snatched down an offensive rebound which led to a Te-Hina Paopao three-pointer as she scored seven of Oregon's next 10 points to make it 61-57.

Johnson found Kelsi Rees for a sweet layup to make it 63-57. Then Parrish got the lucky bounce on the front iron of a three-pointer to make it 63-60.

Rogers gave the Ducks a boost with an and-one layup. She missed the extra shot, but Sabally got the offensive rebound and drew another foul. She hit both at the line to give herself the double-double. This trip drew the Ducks within one point at 65-64. The forward followed up with another hook shot to retake the lead, but it would be the last momentum for the Ducks in this game.

Right after the bucket, Sabally fouled out, making apparent contact with McQueen on a three-point attempt. To make matters worse, Graves was called for a technical foul. Sabally finished her night with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

It was a pivotal call as McQueen went 4-5 from the free throw line to give them a 69-66 lead. This gave McQueen her first career double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

With Sabally gone, everything began to go the Utes' way as they cruised to the win without any resistance. The sixth-seed Utes got the upset win 80-73 as Kneepkens led them with 24 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists to advance to their first-ever Pac-12 Tournament Championship Game.

What’s Next?

Utah will face the top-seeded Stanford Cardinal at 3 p.m. on ESPN2 for the Pac-12 Championship. The Ducks are projected to be a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. On March 13, all the participating teams and bracket will be announced on ESPN.

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