The No. 7 ranked Oregon women’s basketball team beat No. 4 Mississippi State 82-74 in front of a 8,951 at Matthew Knight Arena on Tuesday night. The Ducks improve to 9-1 on the season, with this win easily being their most impressive. Mississippi State falls to 10-1 with its first loss of the season.

“That’s a great win for us, I loved our composure,” Oregon head coach Kelly Graves said. “We’ve questioned our toughness from time to time, but they passed tonight. That was a tough, gutty win.”

The first half of the game went exactly as advertised, with both offense coming out of the gates firing. What was immediately clear was the hustle and fire that both teams were showing. The game stayed within a few points for the majority of the half, before Oregon took a six-point lead late in the second quarter. A mini run from the Bulldogs, aided by a technical on Kelly Graves, allowed Mississippi State to come back and take a 40-39 lead into the half.

Sabrina Ionescu had a tough start to the game, going scoreless from the field in the first quarter. She did manage to find other ways to contribute as she always does, but it was still a noticeable absence from the Oregon offense. Luckily for Oregon, Ionescu’s first half struggles didn’t last for long, with an 11-point second quarter from the junior star.

One of the biggest storylines to the game is how Oregon forward Ruthy Hebard would defende Mississippi State’s dominant center Teaira McCowan. Hebard did a great job defending her in the post in the first half, holding her to only 5 points and 5 rebounds. Hebard only had 2 rebounds herself in that half, but most of her job was just making sure that McCowan didn’t get the rebound. She also managed to slip to the rim for a few buckets on the taller defender.

“We hold her to a really high standards in that post play,” Ionescu said. “The sky's the limit for her, but I think she set the bar on the defensive end for us.”

The entire team defense was also shifted to a box and one for the first time this season, which Graves specifically started implementing for this game. “We threw in a little special defense for this game, and they executed it incredibly well,” Graves said.

After a physical first half, the officials decided to call a much tighter game in the second. Mississippi State managed to to jump out to a seven point lead early in the third quarter, but Oregon managed to weather the storm and come back. This included several plays where Hebard was able to get the better of McCowan. Oregon went into the fourth quarter with a 57-55 advantage.

Oregon went out fired up into the fourth quarter hungry for a win. The Ducks outscored the Bulldogs 7-2 in the first couple minutes to take a nine point lead with just over seven minutes to play. The strong play managed to continue, and Oregon was able to stretch the lead to double digits.

Ionescu wasn’t able to contribute well from the field, but she was perfect from the free throw line. She shot 17-for-17 from the line on the day, while only shooting 5-for-18 from the field. She led Oregon with 29 points on the night. She didn’t let her poor shooting night get to her. “I feel fine, we won,” Ionescu said. “I was getting good looks, and I just wasn’t hitting them, so I knew I had to find another way to score in order to contribute on the offensive end.”

Hebard finished with 14 points and 6 rebounds with a great matchup over McCowan. Maite Cazorla also had a season high 20 points.

Mississippi State’s star center McCowan was held to a season low five points, and 11 rebounds. Anriel Howard led the Bulldogs with 30 points with most of Oregon’s focus being on McCowan. Graves also attributed shutting her down to Hebard. “She kept her outside of that painted area,” Graves said. “She was a warrior tonight, she really was. I’m really proud of her.”

Ionescu now sees this game as the benchmark for how Oregon should play every single night. “The way we came out mentally engaged on both ends of the floor is now the level we know we have to achieve every game,” Ionescu said. “We’re gonna grow from this game, and continue to learn on the things that we didn’t do, and see where that takes us.”

Oregon won’t have much time to enjoy the victory, as the Ducks host Air Force on Thursday, Dec. 20 at 11AM before turning right around the next day and facing UC Irvine at noon. Both games will be available to watch on Oregon live stream