No. 6 Oregon breezes behind Sabally, Bando
Oregon freshman Satou Sabally adjusted quickly to conference tournament play.
The 6-foot-4 forward scored 21 points and Lexi Bando added 19 to help No. 6 Oregon beat Colorado 84-47 on Friday in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals in Seattle.
The Ducks, the regular-season conference champions, will face No. 9 UCLA, which beat Cal 77-74, in Saturday’s semifinals.
Oregon (28-4) led 45-18 at halftime and used a 22-0 thirdquarter run for a 77-37 lead entering the final period.
“I was just impressed with our energy on both ends of the floor. Defensively and offensively, we were on point,” Oregon coach Kelly Graves said. “We spread the floor. We were shooting it well. The right people were getting the shots. It was just a really good game. I told them after the game they were inspiring.”
Freshman forward Mya Hollingshed had 20 points, and Kennedy Leonard added 13 for ninth-seeded Colorado (15-16), which beat Utah 66-56 in the opening round.
“We ran into a little bit of a buzz saw today in Oregon,” Colorado coach JR Payne said. “You don’t get to be a top-10 team in the country by luck and they certainly showed why they’re such a great team.”
Ruthy Hebard added 11 points and 11 rebounds, and Miramonte-Orinda alum Sabrina Ionescu had 10 points, eight rebounds and tied a tournament record with 13 assists for the Ducks.
“We knew they were going to come out and they were going to play hard, and they were going to play hard the rest of the game,” Ionescu said about Oregon’s strong second-half performance. “We knew Kennedy and their guards were going to continue to take it to us. So, we knew that we had to continue to play well and grow as a team. You never know what happens in March, so we did not want to let them get back into the game.”
Arizona State 57, #10 Oregon State 51: In a Pac-12 quarterfinal in Seattle, Courtney Ekmark scored 18 points and the Sun Devils (21-11) held the Beavers (23-7) without a field goal over the final 5:14 to rally to victory.
#2 Mississippi State 81, Kentucky 58: Roshunda Johnson scored 20 points as the Bulldogs (31-0) routed the Wildcats (15-17) in the SEC quarterfinals in Nashville.
#4 Louisville 73, Virginia Tech 70: Myisha Hines-Allen had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Cardinals (30-2) in the ACC quarterfinals in Greensboro, N.C. Asia Durr, the ACC’s Player of the Year, had 11 points on 3-for-19 shooting for Louisville.
#5 Notre Dame 83, Virginia 47: Marina Mabrey scored 24 points on eight three-pointers and Arike Ogunbowale added 16 points to help the
Fighting Irish (28-2) beat the Cavaliers (18-13) in the ACC quarterfinals. Notre Dame is trying to become the second league team to win five straight tournament titles.
#8 South Carolina 73, #12 Tennessee 62: A’ja Wilson had 24 points and 12 rebounds coming off the bench and the Gamecocks (24-6) beat the Lady Vols (24-7) in the SEC quarterfinals. Wilson didn’t start against Tennessee after missing the regularseason finale at Tennessee because of vertigo.
Air Force 66, San Jose State 60: Kaelin Immel scored 21 points and Emily Conroe added 19 to lift the visiting Falcons (5-24, 5-13 Mountain West Conference) past the Spartans (7-22, 4-14). Taylor Turney and Myzhanique Ladd both had 13 points for San Jose State.
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#2 Michigan State 63, Wisconsin 60: Cassius Winston hit a go-ahead jumper with 7:17 to play and the Spartans (29-3) won their 13th straight game by beating the Badgers (15-18) in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament in New York.
#8 Purdue 82, Rutgers 75: Carsen Edwards and Vincent Edwards each scored 26 points and the Boilermakers (27-5) held off the Scarlet Knights (15-19) to advance to the Big Ten tournament semifinals.
Penn State 69, #13 Ohio State 68: Tony Carr found Josh Reaves for a game-winning dunk with 3.1 seconds to play as the Nittany Lions (21-12) stopped the Buckeyes (24-8) in Big Ten tournament quarterfinals.
#15 Muhammad-Ali Michigan 77, Abdur-Rahkman Nebraska 58: scored 21 points and Mo Wagner had 20 as the Wolverines (26-7) dealt a significant blow to the NCAA hopes of the Cornhuskers (22-10) with a win in a Big Ten tournament quarterfinal.
Davidson 63, #17 Rhode Island 61: Jon Axel Gudmundsson’s driving layup with 3.1 seconds left lifted the host Wildcats (18-11, 13-5 Atlantic 10) to a win over the Rams (23-6, 15-3).