Oregon women's basketball's bad 2nd quarter sinks chances against No. 3 Colorado Buffaloes

Though the Oregon women’s basketball team made a game of it late, an 18-3 second quarter in favor of the road team led to its fourth-straight loss to No. 3 Colorado Sunday afternoon, 61-48.

Oregon’s Grace VanSlooten – in her return to the lineup after sitting out Friday’s loss to Utah with a concussion – scored a team-high 16 points, Chance Gray scored 13 points and Phillipina Kyei had her usual double-double with 12 points and 17 rebounds, but the rest of the Ducks combined to score seven points.

Freshman guard Sofia Bell sat out the game after a lower leg injury she suffered against the Utes on Friday. Bell was in a walking boot during pregame warmups. Oregon coach Kelly Graves said he did not know whether her injury would be long-term or not.

VanSlooten got the action started for Oregon, hitting the first shot of the game, and scoring six first-quarter points in the opening moments.

Ducks have poor play in second quarter

It couldn’t have gone much worse for the Ducks (11-11, 2-7 Pac-12) in the second quarter.

Trailing 13-8 after a defensive-minded first quarter, Oregon failed to score a field goal and was outscored 18-3 in the second frame. By halftime, a once five-point deficit stood at 20. The Ducks shot 4-for-23 in the first half, 0-for-7 from 3-point land, had 10 turnovers that turned into 16 transition points for Colorado, and was getting outrebounded 31-13.

Oregon’s three points in the second quarter are a program record for fewest in a single frame. The previous low was four points in the first quarter against Stanford in 2016. The Ducks’ 11 points in the first half finished just above a program record for fewest points in a half. Oregon scored 10 points twice during the 2009 season against Oregon State and Cal.

The Ducks turned a 21-point deficit into just seven midway through the fourth quarter, with a renewed emphasis on attacking the rim and drawing contact for free throws, but ultimately couldn’t complete the comeback.

“The second half we just competed better,” Graves said. “We were better in every phase. We got more aggressive, we wanted to get the ball inside more frequently and actually get to the basket, and we did … we just can’t spot a top-5 team 20 points.

“We’ve got some gamers and some competitors and some people that play with pride and they showed that in the second half.”

The Ducks shot 2-for-16 from 3-point land, and 18-for-57 from the field at the final buzzer. Oregon’s 15 turnovers were turned into 22 points for the Buffaloes, and though the Ducks narrowed the rebounding gap after halftime, they still lost that battle, too, 52-41.

What's next for Ducks after fourth-straight loss

Oregon’s road doesn’t get any easier after its fourth-straight defeat. It’ll have a week off before returning to Matthew Knight Arena to play upstart Oregon State, which just decimated Utah, 91-66, and defeated Colorado on Friday.

After that, the Ducks play five more ranked teams in a row.

“Defensively we played well enough to at least compete and be close and win these games, we just don’t have enough firepower offensively,” Graves said. “It’s a struggle and a grind to try and score … We’ve got to keep the confidence level up. At some point, our players have to see the ball go through the basket. That’s the only way. I can pump them up and want them to, but at some point, they have to see it go through in a game.”

Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on Twitter @AlecDietz.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Pac-12 women's basketball: No. 3 Colorado Buffaloes down Oregon Ducks