By Oregon had the three best players on the floor and even when as it was out-played and out-coached in spurts, the talent gap eventually overwhelmed Rice.
Endyia Rogers had 19 points and Te-Hina Paopao and Grace VanSlooten each scored 17 to carry the top-seeded Ducks to a 78-53 win over the Owls in the second round of the WNIT Monday night at Matthew Knight Arena.
Oregon (19-14) advances to face the winner of UC Irvine and San Diego in the Super 16 at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Rogers (8 of 11 field goals), Paopao and VanSlooten (each 6 of 11 FG)combined to shoot 20 of 33 from the field while the rest of the roster combined to go 9 of 29 from the floor.
Paopao (seven rebounds, five assists) scored 15 of her points in the first half for Oregon, which quickly built an 11-3 lead. The Ducks tried to run Rice out of the gym by firing quick shots but ended up letting the Owls inch back into it by going 2 of 11 from the field with five misses from three and held just an 18-17 edge after one.
Despite shooting 70% from the field in the second quarter, Oregon only won the frame 16-14 because of eight turnovers, including four by players who don’t usually handle the ball.
VanSlooten scored 11 points to single-handedly outscore Rice in a 23-9 third as the Ducks forced six turnovers and capitalized.
India Bellamy had nine points and five rebounds to lead Rice (23-9), which shot a season-low 27.4% from the field.
The Oregonian/OregonLive will update this story.
