Maryland transfer Taylor Mikesell leads Oregon women’s basketball in season-opening rout of Seattle; Oregon State tramples Montana-Western

Published 9:49 pm Saturday, November 28, 2020

EUGENE — A new era of Oregon women’s basketball began at Matthew Knight Arena Saturday afternoon.

Gone are the icons — Sabrina, Ruthy and Satou.

Here now for the No. 10 Ducks are returners Erin Boley, Jazz Shelley, Taylor Chavez and Lydia Giomi, bigs Sedona Prince and Nyara Sabally, transfers Taylor Mikesell and Arielle Wilson and five heralded freshmen. All of them played and 11 of them scored, led by 28 from Mikesell, the Maryland transfer, in a 116-51 demolition of Seattle in an empty gym.

Kelly Graves turned to a variety of lineups. In her first college game after two-plus years of injury and sitting out after transferring from Texas, Prince started and had 17 points and six rebounds.

Oregon’s scoring came in early waves, with a 16-4 run to close a 39-14 first quarter opening up a more than comfortable gap for the rest of the game.

Mikesell, one of the best 3-point shooters in the country, hit 8 of 10 from behind the arc and had 21 of her points in the first half.

Giomi had 10 of her 15 points before the break and added 13 rebounds as the Ducks took a 71-25 lead at halftime. It was the first time Oregon scored more than 60 in a half since dropping 64 against UC Irvine on Dec. 21, 2018, which was also the last time UO topped 110 points (115).

Te-Hina Paopao, one of the five true freshmen McDonald’s All-Americans, started and had six of her seven assists in the first half.

Chavez had 11 points and Sabally had 10 points and six rebounds to give Oregon five players in double-figures.

Making the debut more impressive was the fact that Oregon didn’t even shoot particularly well from long range besides Mikesell. UO shot just 10 of 31 from deep, including just 2 of 12 in the second half.

Also Saturday:

No. 18 Oregon State 88, Montana-Western 54: CORVALLIS — Montana-Western managed to hang around with 18th-ranked Oregon State for a half, but the Beavers pulled away from the Bulldogs in the third quarter and cruised to a 34-point victory in the season opener.

Sophomore forward Taylor Jones led all players in scoring and rebounding with 24 points on 10 of 13 shooting and nine boards. She also had two of Oregon State’s nine blocks in the game.

The Beavers had five players who scored in double figures, including Jasmine Simmons (13), Aleah Goodman (12), Sasha Goforth (11) and Jelena Mitrovic (10).

Oregon State shot 51.6% (32-62) from the field, but made just nine of 28 3-point attempts (32.1%) and were a dismal 15 of 26 (57.7%) from the free-throw line.

Montana-Western’s Jenni Weber led the Bulldogs with 12 points off the bench.

Fellow sub Lilly Gopher was the only other Montana-Western player with double-digit scoring, with 11.

Oregon State’s next scheduled game is Monday at home against Carroll College. The Beavers kick off Pac-12 Conference play on Dec. 4 at home against Utah.

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