The Oregon women’s basketball team outscored Hawaii 22-6 in the third quarter to roll to a 86-49 win in Oregon’s second game of the Rainbow Wahine Showdown on Saturday.
Lexi Bando scored a game-high 22 points and Ruthy Hebard added 19 more, along with nine rebounds, to help the Ducks improve to 5-1.
Oregon head coach Kelly Graves played all 14 available players in the team’s sixth consecutive game. The Ducks shot 58.2 percent from the field and tied a season-high for 3-point field goals made with 12.
“We moved the ball well all night offensively and found open shooters,” Graves said in his postgame radio interview. “We shot the heck out of it, 12 of 20 from the three. It was all in all I think a really good effort, especially the last three quarters.”
Hawaii, which shot 32.7 percent from the field, had its largest lead of the game, 12-5, with 4:38 left in the first quarter. It led 21-18 after the first quarter.
“We looked like we were auditioning for the Mannequin Challenge,” Graves said of the first quarter.
The Ducks took their first lead of the game, 22-21, on a jumper from Mallory McGwire, who had eight points on 3-of-4 shooting. Consecutive 3-pointers from Maite Cazorla and Sabrina Ionescu gave the Ducks a 36-29 lead with 2:50 left before halftime.
Oregon took a 41-31 lead at intermission. At the break, Oregon was 6 of 11 from 3-point range.
The Ducks then outscored Hawaii 22-6 in the third quarter. Oregon took a 63-37 lead over Hawaii on a 18-1 run capped by a 3-pointer from Lexi Bando, who finished with six 3-pointers, matching her career high. The Ducks held Hawaii to 1-of-13 shooting in the third quarter.
“I thought the third quarter especially, we played really, really well,” Graves said. “Defensively in the third quarter we really turned up the heat.”
Oregon outscored Hawaii 23-12 in the fourth quarter to secure the win.
The Ducks played their final of three games in Hawaii on Sunday against San Jose State. The Spartans are coached by former Duck Jamie Craighead.
Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne
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