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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 8, 1996)
Tourney-bound Beavers need win ■ OREGON STATE: Head coach Judy Spoeisira says her team rs happy to be playing m front of the crowd at McArthur Court By Trevor Kearney Sptvefaaw Going into Friday night's Chrit War matchup, tha Oregon State Beavers are ranked Uth in the USA Today/CNN Top 25 poll, boast a 1ST overall record and have a lock on an NCAA (ham pi unship Tournament bid The Beavers (116 in tha ion fere nee) clinched second place in the Pacific:-to Conference, loo, after Stanford heat Arisona 77*61 last night The win ensured the Beavers of a second place finish and was their first step in the direction of their goal of hosting thetr first round tour nament game. But don’t let that fool you Because the Beavers’ second and final step ts the Civil War "I think Friday's game is important for our opportunity to boat an NCAA first round." head coach Judy Spoelstra said. “We put in a big bid. we understand that we are being looked at very seriously by the selection com mitten, and I think finishing on a positive noie and playing very, very well is going to he the key for us. "Even If we go down there and lose we need to play very, very well." The Beavers are in the midst of a two-game losing streak, and both of those losses came on the road On Saturday. Oregon State lost to USC by one point, and that loss came just days after UCLA beat the Beavers 66-56 But those two games played in near empty arenas ami according to Spoelstra. the Beavers, who broke the Pac-10 single-game attendance record by drawing 7.861 fans against Stanford this year, play their worst in those conditions Ore gon State set its own regular was •on attendance record hy drawing *3.1*3 fans this year, an average of 3JW-S per game “We are used to having 3.000 or 6.000 Mae at home, and going on the road last weekend to an empty Pauley Pavilion and an empty Lyon s Center kind of threw us off.’ SpoeUtra said, adding that playing in a noisy McArthur Court will help the Bee vets if anything ’So noise is a good Ihing I think it will help — that big game environment is where our players step up the most " And with the Ducks all hut needing a win to get a tourna ment hid. big game environment U fust what the Civil War will be ’ll is a bag game. Oregon ia our intrastate rivalry.” SpoeUtra said. ~! think it ia a motivational factor when the players know that this is s must-win situa tion" But for the Beavers lo get the nod to host their firsi round game, this game is hig for them, too. making it ail the more com petiti ve "I don't think that they have felt they played that well in the last couple of games and that they are kind ol struggling and have a tendency to not show up for big games.’ SpoeUtra said “So from that respect, you are throwing two teams out there on the floor that are pretty much going through the same emo tional crisis “ The Beavers are led by senior forward Tanys Loath., who holds every Oregon State offensive career record except assists and field goaU made She has chalked up I* double-doubles Ibis season, including a 20 point arid 10 rebound performance against USC last Saturday, and has ted the team in scoring every game this year except against Arizona, when teammate Aoette MotlerMrom wared 20 paint* She ha* al*o had •( least a chare of the top rebounder in all but three game* Against the Ducb in January. Kottic downed 19 point* and grabbed 10 board* Bui accord ing to Spoelatra. tonight * con test i* going to be a completely different hall gam# *W» wen fortunate enough to beat them here at home the Ant time and it ww a very close Kme. but at the came time we *1 like we didn't play very well, and I'm sure they did too.* SpoeUtra cant “Thai was a long lime ago. the first game of Pac 10 play It team* like a year ago right now. *o we are probably looking at two different team* going out there * Moll«r»trom t* alto a tlrong player that ha* made a big impart at Oregon State The tenior forward t* averaging 13 1 point*, 4 1 rebound* and |u*l over one Meal per game, aod together with Koeiic. who i* averaging an incredible 23 5 point* and >0 9 rebound* tht* year, make* up a feared forward tandem In addition, the Heaver* have 9 foot-5 center Tina beta* to giva (he Duck* post player* tome trouble The Reaver* put controversy and turmoil behind them last year when long time head coach Aki Hill wa* fired However, SpnelMr*. an Oregon State grad uale. ha* picked up the program right where Hill left off "I think the athlete* have been receptive to me and my Myte of coaching I don't know if we would have been able to win >9 game* If they hadn't,* tald SpoelMra. who i* in her seventh year a* a head coach 'They have been pretty positive — they are very intelligent player*, very mature player* I think what they have reallxed i* that they have goal* that are bigger than any problem* In the past * J J ffinTiBurgerand Gel \nother J I f( eyal * kmr **kr) &l hftlf pile? g . i*M JbWM V3 im 1 Ylonddv - Kr1d.iv 2 00p«n • 4 KJpm and ft (Mfym -10 uopnt I k ■■ ■■■■hMi *-**>-**777 j LOOKING FOR COURSES FOR SPRING? 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