Ducks top Aggies in Las Vegas Duel

NO. 10 OREGON 84, NO. 19 TEXAS A&M 62

LAS VEGAS — For the second time in a little more than a month, Oregon had no problem handling Texas A&M.

Maite Cazorla scored 26 points, Sabrina Ionescu added 25, and the No. 10 Ducks beat the No. 19 Aggies 84-62 on Thursday in the Duel in the Desert.

Oregon won at Texas A&M 83-68 on Nov. 16 in the semifinals of the Preseason Women’s NIT.

Oregon Coach Kelly Graves told his players the Aggies would be looking for revenge, and he emphasized attacking the basket from the opening tip. Texas A&M took its only lead at 2-0 before Oregon went on a 10-0 run in less than two minutes, getting 7 points from Satou Sabally.

“We were as good as we could’ve been, certainly offensively,” said Graves, whose Ducks hit 14 of 17 (82.4 percent) from the floor in the first quarter to take a 34-17 lead. “We talked about having a quick start. And since we’ve inserted Satou Sabally into the starting lineup, we’ve actually started better, so I think that’s helped.

“Defensively, we had a little bit to be desired. But offensively everything was clicking. We spaced the floor well, we made shots. We played well, but could even maybe do it a little bit better.”

Ruthy Hebard had 10 points and eight rebounds for the Ducks, who played their third consecutive SEC opponent after losing at No. 5 Mississippi State and beating Mississippi.

“We just wanted to start hard and play hard and knew what we had to do knowing their personnel,” Cazorla said.

In other top 25/SEC women’s games Thursday, A’ja Wilson had 28 points, 12 rebounds and 8 blocks to help No. 4 South Carolina rout Temple 87-60. The Gamecocks (11-1) raced out to a 26-9 lead behind Wilson. She outscored the Owls 10-9 in the quarter. South Carolina led 46-20 at the half and cruised to the easy victory. Mia Davis had 19 points and 10 rebounds for Temple (84). … Victoria Vivians had 26 points to reach a milestone and added nine rebounds in No. 5 Mississippi State’s 76-65 victory over Syracuse in the Duel in the Desert. Teaira McCowan added 14 points and 13 rebounds for the Bulldogs (13-0) before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. Gabrielle Cooper led Syracuse (11-1) with 22 points and nine rebounds. … Jaime Nared scored a career-high 28 points, Evina Westbrook added 17 and No. 7 Tennessee fended off No. 18 Stanford 79-67 to improve to 12-0. Brittany McPhee returned to the Stanford (6-6) lineup for the first time in over a month to score a season-high 27 points, one off her career best.

CENTRAL ARKANSAS 68, NORTH DAKOTA STATE 45

The University of Central Arkansas (7-4) shot 73.3 percent (11 of 15) from the field in the third quarter, outscoring North Dakota State (6-7) 27-8 in the quarter, to pull away for the victory in the championship game of the Florida International Holiday Classic at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center in Miami.

Kamry Orr led UCA with 19 points and five steals. Maddie Goodner made 4 of 8 three-pointers and finished with 14 points. Taylor Baudoin added 11 points and Kierra Jordan had 11 points and 8 rebounds.

Boudin, who had 17 points and 11 rebounds in the Sugar Bears’ 53-47 victory over Clemson on Tuesday, was named the tournament MVP.

UCA was 27 of 50 (54 percent) from the field and 9 of 18 (50 percent) from three-point range.

TOWSON 70, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 44

Towson (5-5) outscored the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff (2-7) 19-4 in the third quarter to pull away for the victory in the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic at South Point Arena.

Destiny Brewton scored 10 points to lead UAPB, which shot 14 of 59 (23.7 percent) from the field and 2 of 11 (18.2 percent) from three-point range. Shawntayla Harris had 8 points and 12 rebounds, and Faith Ohanta added 8 points and 9 rebounds.

Daijha Thomas had 13 points and 9 rebounds to lead Towson, which outrebounded UAPB 48-39.