Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, January 27, 1988, Page 8, Image 8

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    Sports
Jm ——
Women hoopsters support new three-pointer
Popular distance shot debuts as trend sweeps nation
By Cary Henley
Emerald Sports Reporter
Ask members of the Oregon
women’s basketball team what
they think of the new three
point shot, and you'll get a
variety of reactions, ranging
from acceptance to overjoyed
enthusiasm.
Head coach F.lwin Heiny: “I
don’t mind it.”
Sheila Sattiewhite: ”1 like
it."
Vonda Anderson: ”1 love it,"
After making its debut in
men’s college hoops last
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season, the National Collegiate
Athletic Association decided to
give the shot a try in women's
basketball for the 1987-88 year.
After all. the United States is
caught up in “three-point
mania.”
The three-point line has made
its way onto high school basket
ball courts (men's and
women's), and little kids all
over America are drawing three
point lines on their
playgrounds.
The NCAA actually started
experimenting with the shot six
seasons ago. when various
men's conferences around the
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nation tried using the shot. The
shot was officially added to all
conferences in women's basket
ball this year after experiments
with the shot last season.
The NCAA Rules Committee
surveyed 742 men's coaches
before the 1986-87 season, and
found that only 35 percent
favored the shot.
Despite the findings, the rules
committee, headed by Spr
ingfield (Mass.) College pro
fessor and athletic director Ed
ward Steitz. voted the shot into
effect for all conferences and
tournaments for the 1986-87
men's basketball season.
Steitz later said, "It’s an in
tegral pari of the game. It will
open up the game and put more
excitement into it. It's what the
fans want to see."
Sattiewhite. the Ducks' senior
guard, said. “I enjoyed seeing it
in the men's game and 1 like it
since they implemented it into
women's basketball.
"We had planned on using
the shot a lot,” she continued,
"Amy (Pettersen) is a good
shooter, and we have a couple
other good shooters that we
thought would be using it. but
we haven't taken the shot as
much as we thought we
would."
Through research done by the
rules committee, it was
estimated that Division One
teams would convert 39 percent
of their three-point shots.
Sixteen games into the
season, Sattiewhite has hit three
of four attempts from three
point range, and the Ducks as a
team are a not-so-bad 15-45 (33
percent).
Sophomore guard Michelle
Eble has connected on five of
her 10 attempts, including four
against Portland on Dec. 8.
Photo by Bobbie Lo
Webfoot Vonda Anderson supports the three-point shot
wholeheartedly, saying “I love it. ” The 5-foot-7 guard has at
tempted a team-high 25 treys this season.
percentage was up at the begin
ning of the season. I worked on
it a lot this summer, and I was
doing real good. Now I’m down
to about 2H percent (7-25), but I
should get better. My con
fidence is coming back.”
With her 75 percent average.
Sattiewhite remains the team's
marksman, even though she’s
attempted only four of the long
bombs.
"1 don't get to put it up that
often. We have a few players
that are encouraged to shoot it,
like Vonda and Brooke (Allen),
The three-point shot changes the scoring
and makes the stats different’
— Elwin Heiny
Heiny said. “Eble has a pretty
good shot, and Sattiewhite’s
done well with it. Vonda started
off good, but she's dropped off,
and it's affecting her shooting
percentage because she's still
shooting from out there.”
Anderson, the 5-foot-7
freshman guard from Lakewood
High School in Long Beach,
Calif., agrees.
"1 haven't been hitting it late
ly," Anderson said. "I've been
rushing my shot because I
haven't been squaring up. My
and the players with high
percentages. I usually get to
shoot it if we're desperate."
A big complaint by fans,
players, and coaches last season
was that the three-point line
was too close, at only 19 feet 9
inches away from the hoop.
"The way other teams are
making it against us. it's too
close," Sattiewhite said. "1
think it should be back another
two or three feet.”
"1 guess 1 would probably
shoot out there anyway,”
Anderson said. “I’m strong
enough now where I can shoot
from out there."
The three-point shot also
opens things up in the middle,
as defenses have to guard
against the sharp-shooters from
the outside. At least that’s the
way it's supposed to work.
"It would open things up if
we were effective from the
line," Meiny said, adding that a
better idea would have been to
just raise the basket. “Defenses
have a tendency to collapse in
the middle because of our big
player inside. If uou're making
the shot, the defenses would
worry about you taking it.”
“The three-point shot
changes the scoring and makes
the stats different, and that’s
one thing 1 don't like about it,”
he continued.
University statisticians
recently decided to count three
point shots as two points in in
dividual stats.
Washington State's Lynda
Clegg currently leads the
Pacific-10 Conference in three
point shooting, hitting 18 out of
30 shots (46.2 percent).
The three-point shot appears
to be here to stay, and at the cur
rent rate, the second-graders
should be getting their chance
to "pop some threes" by 1990.
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