SAN ANTONIO – Driven by 22 points from striker Sedona Prince, the Oregon Ducks’ number 6 advanced to Sweet 16 on Wednesday with a 57-50 victory over third-placed Georgia Lady Bulldogs.
But for Prince, emotions were raw in the post-game, with his thoughts jumping between his own personal journey, for his teammates, for the attention brought by his viral tweet putting a spotlight on the inequalities between the male and female tournament.
“[The opening game on Monday] I was extremely nervous before, because I knew a lot of people would be watching, “said Prince.” So, I was nervous. But this is good. We want more people to watch it, so I’ll have to get used to it. I was talking to the coaches and I was only in one before the game, but they calmed me down. My companions huddled around me and lifted me up. “
Earlier this week, the San Antonio Spurs arrived at the game at home a few miles away wearing shirts from women’s basketball legends like Rebecca Lobo, Cheryl Miller and Becky Hammon.
“This is incredible,” said Prince when asked about the Spurs gesture. “It’s what we want. It’s what we deserve. We work so hard and play very well, that’s why we deserve as much credit as men.”
Prince has received a lot of attention since his tweet, which has been retweeted almost 200,000 times and has generated national news. But she has been an advocate for equality in college sports for more than just last week, using her surgery and injury recovery to highlight the problems there as well.
“It is incredible that now I have such a large platform and are able to inspire and help so many people and draw attention to my sport because that is what it deserves,” said Prince.
“I hope they see that women’s basketball is not boring. It’s fun. It’s exciting,” she said. “It is different from men’s basketball, but in an incredible way. We play a lot and with our hearts and there are so many fundamentals. It is such a different game, so we wanted to show that we are fun to watch.”
Prince and his fellow attacker Nyara Sabally gave the bell a long hug during the victory over Georgia. Both players overcame personal adversities, with extreme injuries and difficult times. Sabally suffered two ACL tears and, in 2018, Prince horribly broke her tibia and fibula during a tournament game in Mexico City, where she had played for the United States under-18 team in the Fiba Americas championship.
“I saw a video of us hugging after the game and it describes us and what we went through,” said Prince through tears. “When I got here, we were both so broken and we didn’t know if we were going to play basketball again. She is such a fun player and I love her so much, watching where we got and leading this team from Sweet 16 is incredible and so good.”
Born in Texas, Prince spent her first year at the University of Texas, where she rehabilitated her wound, moving to Oregon in 2019.
“As you just saw in that interview, how blessed I am to train a young woman like her. She really is the complete package,” said trainer Kelly Graves. “Not just a great player, but think of the pressure she had on her. She had a lot of attention placed on her and she supported him. And that is not easy to do. I am very proud of her and happy for her, and the rest of team.”
The Ducks have entered this season in an uncertain place, losing three starters and welcoming an almost entirely new squad. Last season’s team was the title favorite, led by superstar Sabrina Ionescu.
But after advancing in the first two rounds to claim a spot on Sweet 16, Oregon is in a position to try to recover the opportunity missed by the team last year.
“It has been a difficult season to manage expectations. Everyone knows what we lost. Everyone knows what we had the opportunity and the ability to do in this tournament last year. It was taken from us,” said Graves. “And I think sometimes people just assume that we are going to continue with this … We have nine new players. In a pandemic year, this is the worst time to have a young team, we just haven’t had a chance to work with them. But from the first day, I said a hundred times, we are going to be difficult in March. “
Oregon will face runner-up in Louisville on Sunday.