Kelly scores 20, Oregon women beat No. 12 Baylor 76-74, snap 14-game skid against ranked opponents

EUGENE, Ore. -- — Deja Kelly scored 13 of her 20 points in the second half, Elisa Mevius made a layup with 22 seconds left and Oregon blew a 16-point fourth-quarter lead before the Ducks beat No. 12 Baylor 74-72 Sunday night to snap a 14-game losing streak against ranked opponents.

Oregon (3-0), which is 1-5 all-time against the Bears, went 0-13 last season against Top-25 opponents and beat a Top-25 team for the first time since a 73-59 win over then-No. 14 Arizona on Feb. 23, 2023.

Sarah Andrews and Yaya Felder converted back-to-back three-point plays to spark a 17-2 run that cut Baylor’s deficit to 68-67 with 5:39 to play. Phillipina Kyei made a jumper and Kelly hit two free throws to make it a five-point game about 2 minutes later but Andrews answered with a 3 and Jada Walker made two foul shots before Aaronette Vonleh’s tip-in putback made it 74-72 with 1:28 remaining and gave the Baylor (1-1) its first lead of the second half.

Kelly’s layup made it 74-all with a minute to go and, after Andrews missed a layup, Elisa Mevius drove from the left corner, got a seal on the block from the 6-foot-8 Kyei and her wide-open basket gave Oregon the lead for good.

Walker led Baylor with 24 points and Darianna Littlepage-Buggs scored 19 and grabbed 10 rebounds. Andrews finished with 13 points.

Alexis Whitfield scored 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting and grabbed four rebounds in the first half to help Oregon take a 35-27 lead into intermission. Walker made back-to-back layups and Littlepage-Buggs followed with another before Felder's fast-break basket capped an 8-0 spurt and gave Baylor a 25-20 lead with 6:55 left in the second quarter. Whitfield answered with a turn-around and pull-up jumpers and, after Sarah Andrews hit two free throws for the Bears, scored five points in an 11-0 run to close the half.

Baylor shot just 29% (10 of 35) from the field and hit just 1 of 10 from 3-point range while the Ducks made 13 of 26 overall in the first half but the Bears scored nine points off 10 Oregon turnovers to remain in striking distance.

The Bears scored eight of the first 10 second-half points to make it a two-point game but Kelly answered with a jumper and Sofia Bell followed with a 3-pointer before Kelly hit another jumper and then made 1 of 2 from the free-throw line to give Oregon a 10-point lead with 5:38 remaining in the third quarter. Nani Falatea hit a 3-pointer and a jumper to cap an 11-3 run and stretch the lead to 60-44 about 5 minutes later.

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball