Huge Game from Kyei Leads Oregon Women's Basketball to 19th Win

Via Oregon Communications:

EUGENE, Ore. — A senior class that has revitalized Oregon women’s basketball capped its Matthew Knight Arena career in style Sunday. And the longest-tenured Duck had the biggest impact of all.

Fourth-year senior Phillipina Kyei had the first 20-20 game by a UO women’s player in a decade Sunday, finishing with 20 points and a career-high 25 rebounds — tied for third-most in UO single-game history — as the Ducks beat Rutgers on their Senior Day, 77-58. Senior transfer Deja Kelly added 19 points in her final appearance at Matthew Knight Arena, and senior guard Peyton Scott added 15 points.

Head coach Kelly Graves started all five available seniors, the exception being Salimatou Kourouma, who has been injured all season. Alexis Whitfield had four points with four rebounds and Nani Falatea added four points as well, capping the home portion of impactful one-year careers with the Ducks.

“I owe them a great deal of gratitude, just because they gave us a chance,” said Graves, whose team improved to 19-9 overall and 10-7 in the Big Ten with Sunday’s win, a year after finishing 11-21. “We obviously gave them a chance too, but they came in, they knew what we needed to do as a program to get back to where we’ve been, and they’ve helped us to that end. …

“In some ways we’ve started from scratch, and these guys clawed (us back) to where we are now.”

Kyei is the only veteran of Oregon’s last NCAA Tournament team, when she was a freshman in 2022. The program endured a couple of tumultuous seasons in the ensuing two years, but now the Ducks are solidly in position to earn a first-round bye to the Big Ten Tournament and return to the Big Dance, particularly if they can win their regular-season finale next Sunday at Washington.

“It was a great day,” Kyei said following the Senior Day ceremony, which she capped by taking a microphone and thanking the crowd of 6,181 for its support. “Very emotional for me, and I was so happy everybody was here to witness us play basketball today.”

The Ducks capped February with three wins in their last four games, and finished 15-3 at home for the season with Sunday’s win. They did so with a roster that featured several new faces, but which quickly developed chemistry.

“You don’t get nine new players and six returners from a very tough season and turn it into this without buy-in, without belief, without faith and trust in one another other,” said Scott, who returned this season after an injury in the opening game of the 2023-24 campaign. “From day one we talked about how deep and how versatile we are; it was never we were stepping on each other’s toes, or we felt like we couldn’t be ourselves. There were growing pains, for sure, but we worked through them. We worked through them together, and ultimately that’s why we’re getting the product we are right now.”

How It Happened: Kyei got to work from the jump, scoring on Oregon’s first two possessions, the second a putback. Rutgers rallied into a 17-12 lead late in the opening period, but Kyei took a pass from Elisa Mevius and scored for the final points of the period.

At 6-foot-8 the tallest player in program history, Kyei always has had the potential to dominate like she did Sunday. In her final home appearance, it all came together.

“Sometimes she’s got to get out of her own way and get out of her own head,” Scott said. “We try to continue to tell her that and just give her that confidence, each and every game. And tonight is just a testament to what we’ve all known all year.”

Oregon’s last deficit was 19-16 early in the second quarter. Falatea scored to make it a one-point game, and who else but Kyei put the Ducks back in front, 20-19. The UO women took the lead for good on a three-pointer by Kelly that broke a 24-24 tie and sparked a 10-2 run that put Oregon up 34-26 at halftime.

Rutgers scored to open the second half, but the Ducks responded with a 8-0 run that included six points from Scott, the last two making it 42-29. The Scarlet Knight rallied back, though, and trailed just 51-44 entering the fourth quarter.

Kelly scored five straight to open the final period, however, sparking a 14-3 run that put Oregon in command. Kyei, Scott and Kelly combined for 22 of the Ducks’ 26 points in the period, as the senior class led the way to victory on Senior Day.

“All of our pieces are coming together, and it’s the perfect time for that, right before March,” Kelly said. “I’m really excited for this group.”

Up Next: The Ducks close out the regular season at Washington on Sunday (2 p.m., B1G+).