Oregon Hath Emerald Sports
Ducks tune up for Pac-10 with a win
By Steve Mims
Oregon had fun Monday
night, and they should have Im<
cause it won't gat am easier the
rest of the season
The Ducks got their third win
in four games, beating Alaska
Fairbanks mo 71 at Mi Arthur
Court I he Ducks were never
really threatened by the Division
II Nanouks from the north, and
the only questions at the end of
the game was whether Oregon
would reach triple digits, and
when /,a< h Sellers' hank shot
insured this would happen, the
i rowd of 5.233 made its most
noise of the night
ft vs as a game that helps us in
preparation and executing in
game situations, said Oregon
forward Jeff Potter, who scored
14 points and grabbed four re
hounds "It's something where
we can gel game experience get
a win and get some confident e
Oregon finished its non con
fertile e schedule 4 a. but it will
get much tougher when the
I’m ifie;-10 (umfereni e si.hedule
begins Thursday night at DO .A
Oregon got ahead early and
never faded, thanks mostly to
good hallhandling I he Duc ks
went the first 14 minutes with
out a turnover and finished with
only two total in the first half
Oregon had only seven
turnovers for the game, com
pared to the Na I looks 24
"One statistii that I really like
is seven turnovers and -0
assists Oregon head i oat h h*r
r\ Green said "There’s been
limes when we've had two or
three osts and 20 turnovers,
so it’s good to see those two
Too ' MEN Page 8
B[ca
MAH* Mf TYRE.
Things got a lot easier tor Oregon guard Kenya Wilkins alter this hard tout, as he scored 17 points, dished
out s/i assists and had four steals In Oregon's win
Women
run past
Miners
By Scott Simonson
Oregon Q&ty £rn&r&t&
In the first half it was from
outside In the second half it
was from inside.
Kither way. Oregon's
women's basketball team had
enough offensive firepower
and outgunned the Universi
ty of Texas-EI Paso 90-70 on
Monday. The game was Ore
gon's final tuneup for the
Pm.ific-10 Conference season,
which begins at home on
Thursday against UCLA.
Oregon never trailed in the
contest but had a couple of
tense moments after UTEP
overcame a 12-point first-half
deficit to tie the gome at 50-50
with about 12 minutes left in
the second half. However, the
Ducks got 11 points in three
minutes from forward Debbie
Sporcich to spark a 15-0 run,
and the Miners never recov
ered.
The Ducks bolted to a 10-2
lead To open the game and
stayed in control for most of
the first half, thanks to hot
[>erinieter shooting by forward
jessica Schutt and guard Mis
sy Croshaw
Schutt and Croshaw i om
bined for 21 of Oregon 's U7
first-half points. When St butt
knocked down her third three
pointer of the half to make the
Turn to WOMEN, Page 8
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Veterans lead Oregon to basketball victory
Whim winter break started. the*
Oregon men's basketball team
ss as in trouble,
The team had just dropped a
game against lowly Pat ifh and
had yet to put together a strong
(M rlormani e in any of its games
The Dm ks were facing road
games against Idaho and VVis
i onsin-Green Bay and a home
game against Arizona- and Cali
fnrnin-destroy mg Santa Clara
The players were losing confi
dent i in the past couple of sea
sons. sure the Dili ks were had.
hut at least they had a leader But
in early December Oregon was
beginning to look as if the new
recruiting class consisted of 1 2
players rather than six
The coat h the usually opti
mism Jerry Green, liegun to ques
tion Ins ability to bring this pro
gram out of the dumper The
coat h whose motto seemed to lie
"You can't fix this program
overnight" was suddenly doubt
ing whether Oregon basketball
yvas worth the effort
Things gut worst' for the Ducks
fhe\ Icjst to Idaho and Wiscon
sin! Been Bay- Hies also lost ut
hoitttt to Santa Clara
Oregon took a long break after
returning front the Midwest and
resumed practice on Christtrtas
l.se in preparation for the Far
West Classic in Portland
The tournament, two days after
Christmas, looked like another
unwelcoined opportunity for the
1-4 Ducks to drop a couple of
more games, and in Iron! of the
important Portland alumni no
less.
In the first game they faced the
I adversity of Portland, a team
who came into the tourney with
an impressive M record and
was, at least in Portland, the talk
of the town
Oregon, however, rose up and
surprised Portland, with |ordv
I.yden flitting a last-second shot
to give the Dm ks a three point
win The Din ks lost the follow
ing night to Oregon State, hut
only hy four and the players were
far more optimistic about the rest
of tile season than they were
when Dim ember started.
Store impiirtantlv, pfavors were
starting to step up l.vden, I lamoii
Kunyotj and the tiealed |eff Pot
ter started to join Orlando
Williams as playing the role of
seasoned veterans on tin- squad.
Point guard Kenya Wilkins
showed lie i ould si ore points,
knocking down 23 against Port
land
The night before New Year's
Kve. the Ducks played their best
and most important game of the
year thus fur. breaking a 27-game
road losing streak to Division I
teams with a win at St. Mary's
Williams exploded for U points
and the Dm ks and Runyon didn't
miss a shot
The .t-.r> Dm hs face eighth
ranked UC1.A Thursday in Los
Angeles and the most surprising
aspect of the season so far is that
Green's high I \ touted rookies are
finding themselves on the (tench
more and more with the ext op
tion of Wilkins. Williams. Lvden.
Kunvon. Aaron Johnson and Jefl
Potter are the ones i am mg this
team, the same guys who have
been here for the past two or
three years. the same guvs who've
gone lt>-41 the past two seasons.
The Ducks are not s et a Pacif
ic- 1H Conference i aliber team.
Maybe they will i>e h\ next sea
son Maybe they will hit their
stride by mid-season this year.
The point is that Oregon man
aged to get through the holidays
and is much better off now than
it was a month ago. _
Dave Charbonneau is a sports
reporter for the Kmerald
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