The Guru Report - National: The Perfect Endiya Carries Oregon Over No. 7 Arizona

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

For Oregon on Saturday, a full roster for the first time this season provided the firepower to rally from a 17-point deficit late in the third corner  to get to overtime where the Ducks had the perfect Endiya to finish the job against No. 7 Arizona in a Pac-12 game in Eugene, Ore., in the Matthew Knight Arena.

That would be Endiya Rogers, who hit a last-second shot in the first overtime to give Oregon a 68-66 upset ahead of Monday’s visit from No. 10 UConn..

Te-Hina Pao Pao had a career-high 24 points, Nyara Sabally scored 20, including the shot that forced the overtime, and Sedona Prince was back after missing two games for the Ducks (9-5, 2-1 PAC-12).

“”I’m just really proud of the grit, the toughness,” said Oregon coach Kelly Graves. “We got it done, and that’s a huge win for us.”

The Ducks trailed the Wildcats 54-37 late in the third period when they began their comeback.

Arizona in the overtime got it tied with the Wildcats’ ninth three-pointer, 66-66, with 16 seconds left in the first overtime. 

Out of the timeout, Rogers inbounded in front of the Oregon bench to Prince, got the ball back and drove the baseline.

She then got it to Sydney Parrish, who missed with as three-pointer, but Prince tipped it back to Rogers, who, at the time had been 1-for-10 on the day, connected on a short baseline jump shot with less than a second on the clock.

“I didn’t lose confidence or anything,” Rogers said. “Today wasn’t my day but I made a big shot to win the game. We didn’t want to lose the game and we showed that.”

Oregon has now played three of last season’s Final Four, including Stanford and South Carolina, with the fourth coming Monday in UConn at 5 p.m. in the East on ESPN2.

Arizona (12-2, 2-2), who recently lost at the finish a week ago to Southern Cal and fell from 4th to seventh in the poll, got 14 points each from Shaina Pellington and and Bendu Yainey, while Cate Reese scored 10.

Tenth-ranked Connecticut (9-3, 4-0 Big East), meanwhile, won its 165th overall combined conference game, including the entire American opponents slate its seven years in the conference and all its Big East games since returning a year ago, and Saturday crushed Xavier 78-41.

“If they’re 100 percent, Monday,” it’s going to be a really tough game for us,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said of the Oregon game. “Heck, if they’re 80 percent, it’s going to be tough.But it’s supposed to be.”

Aanaya Harris had 12 points for the Musketeers (6-9, 1-5) and Mikayla Hayes scored 10.

Freshman Caroline Ducharme had anther big game for the Huskies, scoring 20 with 7 rebounds, while Christyn Williams scored 19, and Olivia Nelson-Ododa scored 11.

Dorka Juhasz grabbed eight rebounds off the bench.

Elsewhere, in the Atlantic Sun, in a game between the two top teams, Florida Gulf Coast beat visiting Liberty 73-69; in the Atlantic Ten Massachusetts beat host Richmond, 73-72 in overtime, Fordham won at VCU 54-48, and Rhode Island beat visiting George Mason 59-49.

In the Big 12, No. 13 Texas beat visiting West Virginia 73-57; Texas Tech at home upset No. 25 Kansas State 64-45 after the Wildcats had just returned to the AP Poll, while No. 23 Oklahoma followed up its win over Baylor, beat TCU 100-71, and No. 9 Iowa State beat host Oklahoma State 74-60.

The Mid-American conference saw Toledo go to 5-0 in the league, beating host Northern Illinois 73-52; while Kent State beat Eastern Michigan 83-58.

Missouri State beat Drake 69-53 on the road in the Missouri Valley, while in C-USA host UTEP upset visiting Old Dominion 53-48.

In the Big Sky, Idaho State beat Idaho 60-56, while in the Ohio Valley, favorite Belmont beat visiting Murray State 67-52.

Key games on Sunday, nationally, have Maryland hosting Michigan in the Big Ten, while in the ACC, N.C. State hosts Duke. In the SEC, No. 1 South Carolina is at Arkansas, and Tennessee hosts Kentucky.

And that’s your national report.