The Ducks improved to 6-2 on Saturday afternoon after a 113-78 win over Portland State at Matthew Knight Arena.
Freshman Chrishae Rowe kept her early season productivity up, leading all scorers with 24 points and sophomore Jillian Alleyne led all rebounders with 13. Alleyne also tallied 18 points from the floor to pick up her sixth double-double of the season and 18th of her career. The Ducks rely on Alleyne to be a threat on the boards and in the paint and the team has gone 6-0 when Alleyne has recorded a double-double.
Oregon nearly broke the school record for most points scored in a half. They were just one shy of the record of 69 points and led the Vikings 68-35 at halftime.
“We come out hard with our press and tried to get steals and create points,” Rowe told GoDucks.com. “We have to execute on the steals and turnovers (in this offense), and we did a good job of that.”
The Ducks benefited from a balanced scoring attack with seven players reaching double figures in scoring. Sophomore Lexi Peterson and senior Danielle Love both added 13 points to the Ducks’ total. Senior Ariel Thomas and junior Amanda Delgado each recorded 12 points. Junior Katelyn Loper added 10 points to the mix.
Junior Megan Carpenter made her first basket this season with 3:06 left to play in the contest after sitting out for nearly a month with an ankle injury.
The team maintained a healthy lead in the second half, never seeing the margin dwindle to less than 27 points. Oregon benefited from Portland State’s 25 turnovers, which led to a 32-10 advantage in points off turnovers for the Ducks.
“I’d say we’re just getting started,” Lexi Petersen told GoDucks.com about Ducks’ potential this year. “I don’t think we’ve played a full 40 minutes of the press and run game like we should be. We showed flashes of it in the first half when we went up really fast. If we could keep up that pace for 40 minutes I think that we can show our full potential.”
After UO scored the first 10 points of the game, Portland State rallied a bit before Oregon went on a 21-5 run to bring the lead to 33-10 with 11:35 left in the first half.
Both teams shot 43.2 percent from the field, but Oregon benefited from a strong rebounding effort while holding PSU to a 29-9 margin in second-chance points and a 34-15 advantage in fast break points.
On the horizon: The Ducks return to Matthew Knight Arena next Wednesday, Dec. 18 for a 7 p.m. tip-off against Southern University.
Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne