Oregon women’s basketball’s season ends against Washington in WNIT quarterfinals

Oregon’s season is over at the hands of Washington.

Te-Hina Paopao scored 14 points and Taya Hanson had 12 for the Ducks in a 63-59 loss to the Huskies in the Great 8 of the WNIT Sunday afternoon at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle.

Oregon (20-15) opened strong amid a 21-13 first quarter in which it shot 50% from the field while holding Washington to 29.4% shooting, including 0 for 6 from three-point range.

Things shifted dramatically during the second as Grace VanSlooten was sidelined with an apparent hip injury and Phillipina Kyei and Taylor Hosendove each got into foul trouble. Though neither team shot well in the second, UW took a 30-29 edge at the break as Dalayah Daniels scored 10 of her 14 points in the first half.

Paopao had 11 of her points and all three of her rebounds in the first half for Oregon, which shot just 35.5% on the day and lost the rebounding battle 49-34.

Endyia Rogers scored just seven points on 2-of-12 shooting from the field, including 1 of 5 from three, and went 2 for 2 at the line. It was the worst shooting performance in two seasons at Oregon for Rogers, who snapped a stretch of 13 games in double figures and was held under 10 points for just the sixth time this season.

Hanson made three of her four three-pointers after the break, including to give UO a 35-32 lead.

Washington (19-14) led from 4:00 to go in the third, and though the Ducks got within 52-51 with 6:08 to go after a pair of free throws by VanSlooten (six points), the Huskies responded with eight in a row to put the game out of reach.

The teams split their four meetings during the season, with UW advancing to play at Kansas in the WNIT semifinals.

Oregon was one of the first 4 teams left out of the NCAA Tournament field and ends shy of the four teams left standing in the WNIT.

The Ducks enter the offseason with Hosendove, Hanson and Ahlise Hurst departing, having exhausted their eligibility, and signees Sofia Bell and Sarah Rambus joining fellow class of 2023 recruit Sammie Wagner, who enrolled at UO in January, and Lane CC transfer Bella Hamel.

The intrigue for Oregon lies in the looming decisions of Rogers, who has until approximately 5 p.m. PT Tuesday to tell the WNBA if she is renouncing her final year of college eligibility to enter the 2023 WNBA draft, and Paopao. They have similar skillsets and seldom produced simultaneously against ranked opponents over the past two seasons. Rogers has been noncommittal about her intentions for next season and Paopao would not say whether Rogers returning would influence her thought process about whether to return for a fourth season at UO.