TAMPA, FLORIDA LADY BEARS 72 - DUCKS 67 The No. 2 seed Oregon Ducks (33-5, 16-2) fell to the No. 1 seed Baylor Lady Bears (36-1, 18-0) in the Final Four by a score of 72 to 67. The game was competitive throughout but ultimately the Ducks weren’t able to stop the talented Lady Bears from dominating the paint on offense and defense. FIRST HALF The size and length of the Lady Bears greatly disrupted Oregon’s offense. They held Hebard scoreless in the first half, rushed three-point shooters and forced the Ducks into eight turnovers. Even Sabrina Ionescu had trouble finding her rhythm against the tenacious Baylor defense, failing to score until the second quarter. Baylor opened up the scoring with a Kalani Brown layup, a sight that would become all too familiar throughout the game. Satou Sabally did well to tie it with a jumper and then tied it again after a Lauren Cox score. Sabally then took the lead with a free throw and Erin Boley expanded the Duck lead to 11-4 by draining back-to-back triples. The Lady Bears responded with a 10-0 run, building a three-point lead before senior Maite Cazorla’s first score was able to stop the bleeding. DiDi Richards scored four consecutive points but Cazorla once again corrected the course, this time by stealing the ball from Juicy Landrum and breaking away for the score. Brown split a pair of free throws after being fouled by Lydia Giomi and Baylor finished the first quarter with a 19-15 lead. Oti Gildon snatched Ionescu’s missed layup and cut the lead to two and Ionescu tied the game 19-19 with a jumper. Landrum took back the lead with a jumper but Ionescu answered with a triple. Richard and Cox were the next two to score, but Morgan Yaeger was able to contribute off the bench by evening the score. Baylor scored the next five points before Ionescu connected on another triple. Cox gave the Lady Bears a 31-27 lead with 2:05 left but Boley connected on her third triple of the half. Brown gave the Lady Bears a three-point lead with about a minute left but her next shot was off the mark and gave the Ducks a chance at the last shot. With eight seconds left, Ionescu drained a three-pointer while being fouled by Richards. The Oregon contingent in Tampa erupted as Ionescu sunk her shot from the charity stripe to put the Ducks up 34-33 at the half. OREGON DUCKS *Sabrina Ionescu (40 min) 18 PTS - 4 REB - 6 AST - 6/24 FG - 4/11 3PT - 2/2 FT *Satou Sabally (22 min) 16 PTS - 3 REB - 2 AST - 1 STL - 5/13 FG - 3/7 3PT - 3/4 FT *Erin Boley (38 min) 14 PTS - 1 REB - 1 BLK - 1 STL - 5/13 FG - 4/12 3 PT *Maite Cazorla (39 min) 9 PTS - 6 REB - 4 AST - 1 STL - 4/8 FG - 1/2 3PT *Ruthy Hebard (36 min) 4 PTS - 9 REB - 3 STL - 2/4 FG - 0/1 FT Oti Gildon (18 min) 4 PTS - 3 REB - 1 AST - 1 STL - 2/4 FG Morgan Yaeger (3 min) 2 PTS - 1/1 FG Lydia Giomi (4 min) 2 REB - 1 AST - 0/1 FG BAYLOR STARTERS Kalani Brown (36 min) 22 PTS - 7 REB - 2 AST - 1 BLK - 9/12 FG - 4/8 FT Lauren Cox (40 min) 21 PTS - 11 REB - 7 AST - 3 BLK - 2 STL - 9/14 FG - 0/1 3PT - 3/4 FT DiDi Richards (35 min) 15 PTS - 1 REB - 2 AST - 1 STL - 6/10 FG - 3/3 FT Chloe Jackson (40 min) 6 PTS - 7 REB - 6 AST - 3/11 FG Juicy Landrum (39 min) 6 PTS - 9 REB - 1 AST - 1 BLK - 2 STL - 3/8 FG - 0/2 3 PT SECOND HALF DiDi Richards quickly took the lead back for the Lady Bears, but Sabally was sure to make her presence known with a triple after missing much of the first half due to early foul trouble. Cox tied the game at 37-37 but Ionescu continued Oregon’s success from downtown to reclaim the lead. Baylor went on an 8-0 run, but luckily Cazorla was again able to break the streak with a jumper. Chloe Jackson’s first score put the Lady Bears up by five but was followed by Ruthy Hebard’s first bucket of the night. Sabally hit a triple to tie it but Jackson quickly countered after having found her shot. Down by two with 1:34 left in the third, Ionescu again completed a shot while being fouled by RIchards. Her made free throw gave the Ducks a one-point lead but brown was able to tie it with a free throw of her own. A clutch three-pointer from Boley gave Oregon a three point lead, but Baylors’ bigs both scored in the paint to give their team the 56-55 lead going into the final quarter of the Final Four. Richards played through her foul trouble and even drew a foul of her own against Sabally. The result of the foul was some more bench time for Sabally after picking up her fourth as well as an and-one from Richards to expand the lead to four. Oti Gildon then got the steal and bucket but Landrum quickly responded with a layup. Hebard struck again to cut the lead to two and then Boley made a jumper to tie it at 61 apiece. A Cazorla triple capped the 7-0 run from the Ducks but Cox and Brown teamed up for their own 7-0 run. Sabally hit a triple to tie the score at 67 to 67 but Chloe Jackson was able to take advantage of some lax Duck defense and make an uncontested drive to the hoop that would give the Lady Bears a two-point lead with 41 seconds remaining. Sabally lined up for the three-pointer on the other side of the court but a charging defender made her readjust for the mid-range jumper, a shot that she unfortunately missed. Cazorla and Boley were forced to foul and Lauren Cox went to the line and made both shots. Ionescu and Sabally would both get looks from downtown but neither found their target and the Lady Bears were able to ice the win with a free throw at the three second mark. The Ducks shot just 36.9 percent from the floor and were unable to make a handful of high-percentage shots in the final stretch of the game. The Lady Bears may have been 0-for-3 from three-point land, but they dominated the paint. And although she found her touch in the second and third quarter, Ionescu was shutout in the first and fourth. A playoff loss is always hard to stomach, but this team should feel excited for what they’ve accomplished this season. Most of the team will be back next season (still waiting on Ionescu’s decision between remaining a Duck or going pro) and these Ducks were able to make program history by advancing to their first ever final four. Seniors Oti Gildon and Maite Cazorla should feel especially proud of their accomplishments. This team would be nothing without their contributions in establishing this program. Coach Kelly Graves seems to be in for the long haul, so there’s no reason to believe these Ducks wont be able to repeat their success next season. Chin up, Duck fans! Things look brighter than ever for Oregon Women’s Basketball! GO DUCKS! NEXT UP: A long offseason!<doc-sep>Mar 11, 2019; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Baylor Lady Bears forward Lauren Cox (15) and center Kalani Brown (21) and guard DiDi Richards (2) take the court after a time out during the fourth quarter against the Iowa State Cyclones in the women's Big 12 Conference Tournament at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Baylor won 67-49. One of the nation's best and most powerful offenses is going against possibly the best defense in the nation tonight in Tampa Florida as the Baylor Lady Bears and Oregon Ducks battle in the Final Four. The Ducks ranks No. 3 in the nation in field goal percentage (50.5 percent) while Baylor ranks No. 1 in field goal percentage defense (31.4 percent). Oregon is the best 3-point shooting team nationally, hitting 41.7% of their shots from deep and making 9.8 per game (7th most) versus a Baylor team that makes just 3.2 in the nation (345th). Big versus fast, inside versus outside, offense versus defense. This is a true clash of styles as both teams look to advance to a National Title game against the winner of UConn and Notre Dame. It is not just one Oregon Duck carrying the load behind the arc as well. Erin Boley (43.5 percent), Sabrina Ionescu (43.3 percent), Satou Sabally (41.1 percent) and Maite Cazorla (41.1 percent) -- all shooting above 40 percent from the beyond the arc. Those four surround 6-foot-4 center Ruthy Hebard for a four-out attack. Ionescu is the star of the show though, one of the best players nationally and a tremendous play maker all around the court. She averages 19.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 8.1 assists per game for the Ducks. Can the Bears dominant defense, rebounding, and points in the paint beat a barrage of 3-pointers from the Ducks? HOW TO WATCH #1/1 Baylor (35-1) vs. #7/7 Oregon (33-4) April 5, 2019 6pm (CT) Tampa, FL; Amalie Arena (20,500) ESPN2 Talent: Adam Amin (PBP), Rebecca Lobo (Color), Cara Lawson (Color), Holly Rowe (Sideline) NCAA TOURNAMENT NOTES<doc-sep>TAMPA, Fla. — There was a piece of white athletic tape wrapped around Kelly Graves’ left wrist on Friday night. Before the national semifinal game, the Oregon Ducks coach wrote a single word on it using a black Sharpie pen. All caps. It read: “CALMNESS.” Baylor beat Oregon 72-67 at Amalie Arena, eliminating the Ducks from the women’s Final Four. On one hand, almost nobody else played the Bears to a stalemate for 39 minutes this season. On the other, Oregon kicked this game away in the final minute, didn’t it? Now, it gets to kick itself all offseason. There were offensive lapses, certainly, by Oregon. There were defensive lapses, including inexplicably allowing Baylor, now 36-1, to drive off a high screen for a couple of easy late baskets. The Ducks shot 1 for 13 down the stretch, too. Yet, here Oregon was, so close in the final minute, that Baylor’s magic-carpet ride wobbled in the sky for a moment. The Bears were 8.5-point favorites. The Ducks were 12-to-1 to win it all. In the end, the game’s outcome felt as arbitrary as a coin flip. “We belonged,” Graves said in the postgame news conference. Then, a reporter asked the UO coach if playing the top seed of the tournament so close, so much better than anyone lately, made losing to the Bears feel a little better. After all, Baylor had beaten its first four NCAA Tournament opponents by an average of more than 38 points. Is that a consolation? “No," Graves said. I’m a big believer in progress. As sports fans, we measure it, and study it. I think sports programs need to sniff around success before they reach it. And no doubt, Oregon had a breakthrough this season in reaching its first-ever Final Four. Now, it knows what staying in one takes. “We have a lot coming back,” Graves said. "... we’re going to be loaded next season.” The coach said that multiple times in different ways after the game. Junior point guard Sabrina Ionescu was asked if she’d thought about her plans for next season, too, and she said she hadn’t. She has until Tuesday to declare for the WNBA draft. The Ducks coach sounded like he knows something we don’t, didn’t he? This program deserves credit. Not just for making a Final Four, but for sticking its nose into a big-league fistfight, and going punch for punch with Baylor. I spoke privately with Graves for a spell after the game, and told him I thought he had a terrific season. Not because he made a Final Four. Not because his team looked like it belonged. But because this was a team that responded to adversity beautifully. It found new ways to win. It was unselfish and thrilling. It looked, at least from the outside, like a family. The Ducks left the court on Friday night knowing they could have easily advanced. Oregon played 39 inspired minutes. It needed 40. Graves held his wrist up for me in the arena hallway after the game, and showed me the message he’d written. “I’ve been doing this,” he said, holding his hand up, “throughout the tournament. A different message to myself each time. "A little self reminder.” During the first quarter, with Baylor surging to the lead and Ionescu struggling to find her shot, the coach looked down at his wrist. “CALMNESS.” Late in the first half, when Graves thought about calling a timeout, but instead let his team play to the end, when they captured a one-point lead. “CALMNESS.” In the third quarter, with the game tied 47-47, and then, 49-49, and then, 51-51. “CALMNESS.” There’s a tendency in a first time on the big stage for a great coach to interject himself in the game. But Graves is smart enough to know he’s recruited terrific players, gifted with poise. He formulated a game plan, and made adjustments, but in the end, the Ducks coach reminded himself over and over that it was those players who ultimately had to make the plays. They didn’t make enough in the final minute. Oregon feels like a program that can get back to the Final Four next season. Satou Sabally is becoming a dynamic threat. Ionescu, if she makes the WNBA wait, is a good bet to be the national player of the year again next season. There are only two seniors on the roster. There’s unfinished business for the Ducks. The 2020 women’s Final Four is slated to be held at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. Oregon belonged this season, so what about next? There’s Ionescu’s professional decision. Then, the matter of a couple of roster spots. But the bulk of the minutes played on Friday against Baylor will return next season, perhaps hungrier, and certainly more experienced than this season. This was a special season for Oregon. One that came very close to lasting another 48 hours. Instead they’ll get six months off to sort through the wreckage, mentally examining the scene, trying to make sense of what went wrong. That message on Graves’ wrist? He said it has a meaning. "It means, I trust my team.” Note that he said it in the present tense. I watched Oregon’s players carefully as they left the locker room on Friday night. They walked through the lower level of the arena together, side by side, wearing white Nike sweatsuits. There was Ionescu and Sabally, and Ruthy Hebard, and the rest. At one point, Teresa Gould, a Pac-12 senior associate commissioner, stepped over and high-fived the players as they passed. They were not disjointed. Not scattered. The Ducks stuck together to the end. Oregon’s program walked with purpose. Not like it was leaving. Like it was headed somewhere.<doc-sep>
TAMPA — After top-seeded Baylor and upstart Oregon battled in an airtight first half Friday night, forward Lauren Cox said what everyone was thinking in the Lady Bears locker room. Wow. We haven’t had this in a while. But facing their closest game in a month, the Lady Bears still knew what to do. They dominated in the post and shined down the stretch to eke out a 72-67 Women’s Final Four win at Amalie Arena. Baylor improved to 36-1 with its 28th consecutive victory, which came 14 years to the day of their first national championship. The Lady Bears added another title seven years later and will try to add a third seven years after that in Sunday night’s championship. While Baylor played with the poise of a perennial power, the Ducks (33-5) looked like a program in its first ever Final Four. After averaging an NCAA-low 9.9 turnovers per game entering Friday, Oregon lost the ball seven times in the first quarter alone and 10 times through the first 24 minutes. Superstar guard Sabrina Ionescu — the Ward Trophy winner as the top player in the nation — went scoreless through the first 11 minutes, and the best 3-point shooting team in the nation missed eight of its first 11 attempts. “Just don't know if we ever really got our game going,” Ducks coach Kelly Graves said. “We saw bits and pieces of it here and there.” But Baylor’s size kept it from fully materializing. The Lady Bears pounded the post offensively with the 6-foot-4 Cox and 6-foot-7 center Kalani Brown. They combined for 43 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks and were pivotal in Baylor’s 48-20 advantage in points in the paint. Even when Oregon seemed to make the right decision, it struggled with Baylor’s height. Ionescu made a gorgeous pass to Oti Gildon in the closing minute of the first half, but Cox swatted it away. After Baylor one missed 3, Cox volley-balled a rebound to Brown for an easy layup. Cox even blocked a Satou Sabally runner that would have given the Ducks the lead with two and a half minutes left. “They were beasts inside,” said Ionescu, who hasn’t decided whether she’ll return for her senior season or leave early for next week’s WNBA draft. “But we had to adjust, and we didn’t.” They tried. Because Baylor held Oregon to 10-of-26 shooting in the paint, the Ducks relied even more on outside shots than usual. Oregon launched 32 3-pointers —their third-most of the season —and made 12, tying the record for most ever in a national semifinal. Ionescu scored all 18 of her points in the middle two quarters to keep Oregon close, which few teams have done against Baylor all season. The Lady Bears were the third team ever to enter the Final Four after winning all of its tournament games by at least 25 points. Of Baylor’s first 35 wins, only six were by single digits —none since a 63-57 triumph over West Virginia on March 4. But Baylor never worried about how it’d handle a tight game, even when it trailed 64-61 with 6:10 left. “There was nothing to draw up,” Lady Bears coach Kim Mulkey said. “There were no magical words to say. Go play.” So Baylor did. Cox answered with a quick basket, and Baylor’s defense tightened. Oregon missed 12 of its final 13 shots; two were blocked layups. Baylor’s bigs didn’t come up with its biggest score. That was guard Chloe Jackson, who drove for a layup to break a 67-67 tie with 41 seconds left. But the Lady Bears’ size still came through late. Brown grabbed a pivotal rebound, and Cox and Brown made three free throws to seal the win and a trip back to the national championship. Contact Matt Baker at mbaker@tampabay.com. Follow @MBakerTBTimes.