In its season opener, Northwestern fell to Oregon 100-57 on the road. After losing superstar Veronica Burton, NU’s performance against the No. 20 team in the country did not encourage much optimism.
For Northwestern, Caileigh Walsh led the offensive attack with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting and six rebounds. Kaylah Rainey and Jillian Brown each added seven points.
That wasn’t enough to match Oregon’s Grace VanSlooten, who led the Ducks with 20 points on 10-of-16 shooting. Three other Ducks scored at least 14 points, including Te-Hina Paopao. She added 15 points, six rebounds and three assists.
Oregon quickly got ahead of Northwestern, holding the ‘Cats scoreless for almost four full minutes.