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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 13, 1998)
Women’sNCAATournamentSpecial Women: Stringer fears Australians * Continued from Page 11 have enough wins. We’ve got to win.’ “There was really a lot of pres sure, and I think since we fin ished that chapter that they real ly have become very resilient about the opportunity, what they can do and being in a position where there’s no pressure has re ally rejuvenated them.” But it’s not as if the players don’t know when it’s time to put on their game faces. “I think they are really re laxed,” Runge said. “They had two really good practices [before leaving Eugene], They aren’t so relaxed that they aren’t focused on what they need to do.” And what they need to do is take on a Rutgers team that, much like Oregon, finished the season on a roll. The Scarlet Knights won 12 of their final 14 games to get into the tournament for the first time in head coach Vivian Stringers’ three seasons with the team. Rutgers is young, starting a lineup that includes two fresh men, a sophomore and two ju niors. Their first player off the bench, guard Shawnette Stewart, is a sophomore while their sec ond-highest scorer off the bench, center Tammy Sutton-Brown, is a freshman. They are led in scoring by point guard Natasha Pointer, one of the freshmen starters, who av erages 14.2 points a game. Most of the Scarlet Knights’ point production comes from the backcourt, where shooting guard Tomora Young averages 13.2, and Stewart adds 10.6 a game. The battle between Hughes, who leads the Ducks with 15.5 points a game, and Pointer promises to be one of the game’s more interesting matchups. "Natalie Hughes is big for Natasha,” said Stringer, who is bringing her record third differ ent team to the NCAA Tourna ment. “She’s a big, powerful body, but Natasha is probably quicker. On dribble penetration Natasha will hurt you. “Natalie Hughes can take it to the hole. She’s a strong body, and yet I’ve seen her step back and knock the open jumper down. She sees the floor very well.” Runge said Oregon’s defensive specialist, Lisa Bowyer, will like ly draw the assignment of guard ing Pointer. Other than the matchup in the backcourt, a key to the game could be who wins the battle of the boards. Rutgers averaged 38.3 re bounds per game this season, 2.6 more than their opponent, while Oregon grabbed an average of 33.3 to their opponents’ 36.3. The Ducks were 7-2 when outre bounding their opponent and 9-7 when they were outrebounded. Freshman forward Linda Miles tops the Scarlet Knights with 6.6 rebounds a game, while Angelina Wolvert leads the Ducks with 4.7 a game. “They crash [the boards] really hard so it’s something we’re go ing to have to be focused on,” said 6-foot-2 junior Sonja Curtis, one of the Ducks who will take turns trying to keep Miles and company off the glass. “It’s not so much the Scarlet Knights inside players who make them dangerous on the boards but rather the rebounding ability of their guards,” Runge said. “They’re about even with us rebounding-wise,” she said. “They’re not a great rebounding team, but their guards really re bound and that’s going to be a tremendous challenge for our guards because of their speed.” Although the name of the game is to outscore the opponent, both coaches and several players said the outcome will come down to the defensive end. “It’s always defense,” Hughes said. “That’s the main thing. The guards have a big job Saturday night because their guards are the ones that score. They’re the ones that drive it in there and do everything, so we have to do a good job containing them.” While Oregon must stop the penetration of Rutgers’ guards, Stringer said she is concerned about Oregon’s outside shooting, particularly the three Aus tralians: Bowyer, Hughes and Natasha O’Brien. “The three Australians have a great sense of where the ball is and they shoot the ball really well," Stringer said. She, too, said she feels that de fense will decide the game. “The difference is going to be the defensive side, whether or not they’re applying real pres sure, or how we perceive that pressure and handle it,” she said. 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