Oregon women top Georgia 57-50, return to Sweet 16 as 6 seed

<p>SAN ANTONIO &mdash; Sedona Prince scored 22 points, Nyara Sabally took over late and sixth-seeded Oregon beat No. 3 Georgia 57-50 on Wednesday in the women’s NCAA Tournament to advance to its fourth straight Sweet 16.</p>
<p>Sabally scored six straight points — including a putback of her own missed shot — to break open a tie game and give the Ducks a 54-48 lead with less than a minute to go. She finished with 15 points, including 10 in the second half, and nine rebounds.</p>
<p>Oregon (15-8) is in the tournament for the 16th time overall, but this Ducks team came in less heralded than those led by Sabrina Ionescu, who missed out on her final chance at a national title last year because of the pandemic.</p>
<p>Jenna Staiti had 18 points and nine rebounds for Georgia (21-7), which was looking to reach its first Sweet 16 since 2013.</p>
<p>After Sabally put the Ducks ahead to stay on a layup with 2:20 left, Georgia appeared to have tied the game with a jumper, but the officials said a foul was called before the shot. The foul call didn’t stop play because the referee lost her whistle in her mask.</p>
<p>Georgia opened the fourth quarter with an 8-2 run to get within 42-41 with about six minutes to go, and it was back and forth from there until Sabally came through for Oregon.</p>
<p>The Ducks relied on their starters, and only four players scored. Taylor Mikesell had 11 points and Erin Boley finished with nine.</p>
<p>Poor long-range shooting hurt Georgia, which went 1 of 13 from 3-point range.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Oregon will face either seventh-seeded Northwestern or No. 2 Louisville in the Alamo Region.</p>
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<p>More AP women’s college basketball: <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball">https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/AP_Top25">https://twitter.com/AP_Top25</a></p>