Ducks Hold On For 72-67 Win
Rick Morgan
Amanda Johnson and Nia Jackson each scored 19 points to lead the Oregon Ducks to a more difficult than it should have been 72-67 win over the Utah Utes Thursday evening at Matthew Knight Arena.
"Good to get a win tonight, we got off to a good start," said head coach Paul Westhead. "We struggled a little bit to finish, but we'll get better at that. Amanda Johnson really helped us tonight.
After missing two months and 11 games due to a broken thumb, Johnson's return is a welcome addition to the team.
"She's fine and dandy," said Westhead. "She just needs one or two more games to get her rhythm going again. I'm hopeful if we can string together a couple wins we can get better finishing up games."
"I was out there falling all over myself, said Johnson. "It has been about 8 weeks since the last time I have played at home so I think it was just my nerves getting the best of me. I wanted to start quick out there, but I maybe I started too fast for my own good."
The Ducks raced out to a 15 point halftime lead only to see the Utes claw their way back into the contest in the game's final minutes.
Steady free throw shooting down the stretch kept the lead in Oregon's favor although Utah narrowed the margin to one point at 68-67 with 0:19 to go before Johnson and Ariel Thomas each made a pair of free throws to close out the game.
Oregon's record improved to 12-10 on the year and 4-6 in conference while Utah fell to 10-11 overall and 3-7 in Pac-12 play.
Taryn Wicijowski led Utah with 19 points and Janita Badon added 17 in the first match-up between the two schools as conference mates.
With a 53-36 advantage on the boards for the night, the Ducks led by as many as 19 points in the opening 20 minutes and appeared on several occasions to be ready to run Utah out of the gym., But Oregon could connect on only 11 of 34 second half shots, opening the door for the Utes to storm back from a 40-25 halftime deficit.
Colorado is up next for the Ducks, with a 2:00 pm tip set for Saturday.
