Oregon plays complete game in rout of Stanford

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said before her team faced Oregon for the Pac-12 tournament championship Sunday that the Ducks were the best team in the nation.

Top-seeded Oregon gave her no reason to recant that statement.

Three Ducks scored at least 20 points, and Oregon completely dominated the last three quarters to claim its second Pac-12 tournament championship in three years with an 89-56 win over No. 3 seed Stanford at Mandalay Bay Events Center.

“We just wanted to win this game,” Oregon coach Kelly Graves said. “We knew the entire nation was watching. This is the time of year that committee members are watching as well. We don’t play harder because of that, but I think it’s important the way we played this game, the way it played out.”

Ruthy Hebard scored 24 points, Minyon Moore 21 and Sabrina Ionescu finished with 20 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds to earn the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player honor.

The Ducks (31-2) are certain to be a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament, and this was a statement win as they seek the No. 1 overall seed.

“We showed really everything we can do,” Graves said. “This is a very effective team. We have 10 wins — 10 — against teams that were in the top 16 in the last (NCAA tournament bracket) reveal. Ten That’s more than the other three projected No. 1s combined.”

Stanford (27-6) led 17-14 after the first quarter but was outscored 52-22 in the next two as the Ducks locked down defensively. That led to an avalanche of offense on the other end, with Oregon shooting 63 percent over the final three quarters and 10-for-19 from 3-point range for the game.

Moore was the primary option from long range. She was 4-for-5 from beyond the arc, while Ionescu and Taylor Chavez added a pair of 3-pointers.

“Teams have helped off on me, and I know it hurts our offense and hurts our inside game with Ruthy,” Moore said. “I took it to heart, and I hit the shots tonight. I’m happy they went in. My teammates and coaches have faith in me.”

Ionescu didn’t score in the first quarter, content to be a distributor, but she changed that quickly in the second. She made a jumper to open the quarter, made three free throws after a foul and had a three-point play for eight points in the first 1:10 of the second quarter to give Oregon a lead it never relinquished.

Ionescu finished the quarter with 15 points, including a 3-pointer with five seconds left that sent the Ducks into halftime with a 43-26 lead.

“I was just trying to read the defense,” Ionescu said. “I know they throw a lot of things out there, and I was just trying to read the defense and see how they were going to play it. Then in that second quarter I was able to start making reads for myself and my teammates as well.”

Kiana Williams scored 21 points for Stanford and Ashten Prechtel 14. Lexie Hull, who had 28 points in the Cardinal’s semifinal win over UCLA, was 2-for-13 from the floor for nine points.

Contact Jason Orts at jorts@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2936. Follow @SportsWithOrts on Twitter.