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EUGENE, Ore. -- About everything that could go wrong did for the Texas Southern women's basketball team. The Tigers' uniforms were stolen before their game Saturday against No. 1 Oregon, and any hope of an upset vanished early as Sabrina Ionescu and Ruthy Hebard were their usual dominant selves in leading the Ducks to a 99-63 rout of the Tigers. Eugene police say a black duffel bag containing all the Texas Southern jerseys was taken from the Graduate hotel in downtown Eugene on Saturday. The Tigers wore practice uniforms during the game against the top-ranked Ducks. Some players taped numbers to the back of their maroon tops. Texas Southern coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke said the loss of the game uniforms "kind of messed with [the Tigers] a little bit." "Playing the No. 1 team in the nation and this goes wrong, it takes away from your focus," she said. Cooper-Dyke said the jerseys were left in a conference room while the Tigers watched video in the morning. "We came back to the holding room, they were gone," she said, adding that the team "looked everywhere for them" with the assistance of hotel staff and the Eugene police. But the search was futile, and the Tigers played in their practice gear. Police Lt. Doug Mozan confirmed the bags were taken from the hotel conference room and says he didn't have an estimate for the uniforms' value. "We're really hopeful we do find them because we would like to have our guests get their stuff before they move on to their next set of games," he said. "We feel bad for our visiting team that they would have their uniforms stolen like this." The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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