OREGON — A timeout in the back pocket unused. A no-call on a slap on the arm in the post at the buzzer. A single free throw for the game. It all led to a moment of dismay and shoulda-woulda-coulda for the Cheesemakers after getting upset by Oregon 45-43 Jan. 17.

“They have been playing well — they won five in a row (coming in),” Monroe head coach Sam Mathiason said. “They have kids that can score in a variety of ways. Defensively, holding them to 45 points was very good. Offensively, we just weren’t as clean as we needed to be.”

While many of Monroe’s shots weren’t falling all night — and a rugby scrum repeatedly broke out in the paint — Monroe still had multiple opportunities to stave off the pesky Panthers. The Cheesemakers led 39-35 with under six minutes to play, but a pair of steals and a 3-pointer from Jenna Statz put Oregon back on top 42-39 over the course of just 52 seconds. 

“It’s one of those where you get some good looks inside and they don’t necessarily go in. All of a sudden, they extend the pressure a little bit and get a steal by extending out,” Mathiason said. “It’s that sharpness that you need to have, that being clean. I don’t know that we always played as clean as we needed to.”

Monroe again counterpunched, getting a jumper from Emily Benzschawel with 4:08 left to get back to within a point and then Sydney Hilliard scored on a putback with 2:06 to give the Cheesemakers a 43-42 lead, capping a possession that lasted nearly 90 seconds. 

Megan Benzschawel blocked an Oregon shot with 1:34 left that seemingly handed Monroe the big break they needed. Mathiason called a timeout with 1:19 to go to discuss strategy. After the teams huddled and play resumed, Oregon’s defensive pressure extended even further out. With a Monroe ballhandler pinned at the sideline in front of the bench, Mathiason’s timeout call came a fraction of a second too late, and the Panthers got the turnover on a five-second call.

“If I would have been quicker on that timeout, we could have saved that possession,” Mathiason said. “It’s just one of those you go back and try to put yourself in that position so the next time we’re in it we can execute better.”

As Oregon took over possession with 52.7 seconds left, the Cheesemakers needed to come up with a stop. Instead Statz hit a 3 from the left corner — her third triple of the game — and lit the crowd on fire. 

Mathiason talked his offensive strategy over with his players on the ensuing timeout. With five seconds left Hilliard put up a shot in the lane but missed. Megan Benzschawel grabbed the rebound and was slapped across the arm on her putback attempt but the whistles remained silent. The horn sounded, the hometown crowd cheered and the Cheesemakers were left crouching at their knees with their heads hung in disbelief.

“I thought we battled hard and got the shot that we wanted at the end, so we can’t really complain that much,” Hilliard said. “I felt like I was getting fouled, but you never know, because you always feel like you’re getting fouled. It was definitely a physical game.”

The entire game was a bit of a slog. Hilliard hit a 3 in the opening minute, but Oregon pushed out to a 10-3 advantage just two minutes in, scoring on each of its first five possessions. Monroe countered with a 9-0 run to take a 12-10 lead, and the two teams went back-and-forth until halftime when the Panthers led 25-22. 

“We kind of came out flat, which dug us in a hole for the rest of the game,” Emily Benzschawel said. “This game was really important, as everyone knows. We just have to come out fighting and flying around and grabbing rebounds.”

Monroe took an early 28-27 advantage in the second half, but another short run put the Panthers back on top midway through the half.

“You could tell from the start that they were ready to play and compete. I thought their defensive intensity kind of intimidated us a little bit on the offensive end. I think we were a little timid shooting the ball,” Hilliard said.

Hilliard paced Monroe with a double-double — 17 points and 10 rebounds. Emily Benzschawel had nine points and four boards, while Megan Benzschawel had nine rebounds and eight points. Grace Tostrud had eight rebounds and hit a 3-pointer.

Monroe out-rebounded Oregon 37-22 and outshot the home team by four buckets. But the Panthers finished 9-for-18 from the free throw line while the Cheesemakers had just one attempt from the charity stripe — and it came in the first half.

“It’s one of those where you try to get it inside and I thought we had some good looks. You try to get to the free throw line, but it’s one of those things where it’s hard to determine what you’re going to get, when you’re going to get it and trying to get to the rim,” Mathiason said.

The loss puts the Cheesemakers two games back in the standings behind leader Monona Grove with just six games to play.

“This is the first game of the second half of conference play, so we can’t really get too down on ourselves — we have to use this as motivation,” Hilliard said.