Nia Jackson scored Oregon's last ten points to lead the Ducks past Washington State 77-72 for their first conference win of the year. The junior point guard's 22 points was tops on the scoresheet.
Nicole Canepa added 16 more with solid, physical play in the paint and forward Amanda Johnson joined the double digit parade with 14. Jazmine Perkins struck for 24 for the Cougars to lead all scorers.
"Mac Court magic" was the difference in the mind of head coach Paul Westhead. "That game was going, going, gone..."
"Down 12 (62-50 inside the last ten minutes) ... flat (Oregon shot 33.8%) ... not able to generate consistent offense. They started to cut us up ... after 84 years of basketball there is still some magic left up there."
It's not that Washington State was threatening to burn down the building one night early - the Cougars hit for only 37% on the night. But with everything the Ducks threw up coming off the rim sideways, Washington State was able to run right back at Oregon rather than take the ball out of bounds against a press.
And as Oregon's shooting went from bad to worse in the opening ten minutes of the second half, the Cougars appeared to take the game in hand.
The "Mac Court magic" Westhead cited started taking over the game. Canepa was fouled on a post up and made both free throws. A Cougar miss was rebounded by Jasmin Holliday who hit Danielle Love in transition for a three from the wing.
One of Jackson's team leading five steals ended up the in the hands of Johnson who also drilled the trey in transition. After Jackson's lay-up cut the margin to a pair, Kristi Fallin sank another trey to put the Ducks in front 63-62. A nice dose of "Mac Court Magic" indeed.
The teams swapped the lead a couple of times and the game was tied at 70, so the time was perfect another sprinkling of magic dust - this time in the form of a desperation three-point attempt Jackson swished as the shot clock was about to expire.
Washington State had pressured the ball in the forecourt and a tipped pass but the ball in play as the clock moved inside 10 seconds. From the right top of the key and from 28 feet, Jackson secured the loose ball and let fly over a defender, giving the Ducks a 73-70 lead.
The Cougars missed on a three-point attempt but converted the tip-in to cut the lead to one, but Jackson was 4-4 at the free throw line to seal the win.
"I was just trying to come off a screen," said Jackson of her three point bucket, "and hit the two guard. But I could see the two was getting trapped a little bit and so I just tried to make for her to see me. (I) got the ball, I knew time was running out and I just tried to shoot it and follow through.
Now 10-4 on the year and 1-2 in Pac-10 play Westhead is hoping for one more night of McArthur's special elixir to close out the building Saturday against the Huskies.
"I'm still a newcomer," he said. "I love this place. I felt at home the first one, two, three games I coached last year. I feel for me as a coach and for our team a kind of heavy responsibility to do something for the 84 years of men and women playing here for the University of Oregon."
"All good things come to an end and this is it on Saturday."
Will there be magic in the new arena?
"It's interesting - I think the teams that start there are going to have to build the new tradition. It won't be there waiting for us. It's waiting here because the people in the past have left it. The men and women who now play this year and next year will build a tradition of Matthew Knight magic."
