No. 1 Oregon women cruise

EUGENE, Ore. – Coach Kelly Graves found a lot for No. 1 Oregon to work on after the season opener.

Two days after shocking the best team in the world in an exhibition game, the Ducks easily downed Northeastern 89-47 on Monday. Ruthy Hebard led the way with 21 points and 12 rebounds.

All-America guard Sabrina Ionescu added 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Ducks, who led by as many as 38 points. Ionescu’s 3-pointer with just over five minutes left in the game stretched Oregon’s lead to 78-45. She went to the bench for good with just under three minutes to go.

Forward Lydia Giomi added a careerhigh 18 points and nine rebounds for Oregon.

“Two areas that jump out to me that were just uncharacteristic of the Ducks – we didn’t shoot the three well, 9-of-35, that’s just not who we are, and 15 turnovers. So two of the areas that we pride ourselves in, we just didn’t do that good a job,” Graves said.

But he added that the Ducks were able to work on a little bit of everything to start the regular season.

Oregon downed the U.S. women’s national team 93-86 in an exhibition game on Saturday, handing the Americans only their second loss ever to a college program. Ionescu led the way with 30 points, while Satou Sabally added 25.

So it wasn’t surprising that the Ducks remained a solid No. 1 in The Associated Press women’s college basketball poll earlier Monday, receiving 28 of 30 firstplace votes from a national media panel.

Junior Stella Clark led Northeastern (0-2) with 12 points.

Sabally was not with the Ducks against the Huskies because of obligations with the German national team. She’s missing Oregon’s first three games.

Sabally’s absence helped open the door for Giomi’s big night. At 6-foot-6, Giomi was able to show off her surprising speed.

No. 10 Mississippi State 80, UT Martin 44: Jessika Carter scored a career-high 19 points and Mississippi State had two other players in double figures on the way to a victory over UT Martin.

Along with Carter in double figures was freshman Aliyah Matharu, who had her second double-digit scoring contest in as many games with 15 points.

Top 25 men

Winthrop 61, No. 18 Saint Mary’s 59: Chandler Vaudrin scored 19 points to help Winthrop upset Saint Mary’s.

Josh Ferguson had 14 points and seven rebounds for Winthrop (2-1). D.J. Burns added 12 points.

The Eagles were up 61-57 with 13 seconds left before Jordan Ford hit a layup to get the Gaels (1-1) within two. Russell Jones then missed a free throw with seven seconds left giving the Saint Mary’s one last chance. Ford’s shot missed with a second left and Winthrop held on for the win.

Ford had 22 points for the Gaels. Malik Fitts added 18 points and 12 rebounds. Tanner Krebs had 15 points.

Winthrop was up 54-47 with just over 4 minutes left.