MONDAY
November 30,1998
Best Bet
Monday Night Football
N.Y, Giants at San Francisco
5:20 p.m., ABC
Oregon 63, Wyoming 33
Ducks clinch fourth Pepsi Shoot-out title
Oregon has no problem
holding down their leads as it
goes on to its 100th victory
By Joel Hood
Oregon Daily Emerald
Heading into last weekend, Jody
Runge challenged the Oregon women’s
basketball team to play better defensive
ly than it had in its first four games this
season.
The Ducks responded with two suffo
cating defensive performances, their
fourth straight Pepsi Shoot-out title and
a coaching milestone for Runge.
Oregon (5-1) held
Wyoming to just 26
percent from the field
and scoreless through
the first seven min
utes, 11 seconds of
the second half en
route to a dominating
63-33 victory Satur
day night in the championship game of
the Pepsi Shoot-out in front of 3,443 fans
at McArthur Court.
The win was Runge’s 100th coaching
victory, a feat only matched by one other
head coach in Oregon history. However,
it was the Ducks’ performance, not the
milestone, that Runge complimented af
ter the game.
“It feels just like any other game,”
Runge said. “Overall it was a good per
formance. We defended the ball well,
which is something we’ve been focusing
in on. We’re concentrating on the little
things defensively.”
It worked this weekend.
After holding explosive Brigham
Young to just 25 second-half points in a
74-56 victory on Friday, Oregon stymied
the Wyoming attack on Saturday, limit
ing the Cowgirls to just six-of-25 shoot
ing and forcing 13 turnovers in the final
20 minutes.
Jenny Mowe led the Ducks’ defense
with four rebounds and two blocked
shots in 16 minutes of action. The
sophomore center also scored 10 points,
while converting all five of her shots
from the field.
“[Runge] told us that we needed to
deny their post players the ball, and I
think we did a pretty good job of that,”
Mowe said. "This game was a real confi
Turn to BASKETBALL, Page 12
Matt Hankins/Emerald
Oregon's Sonja Curtis and Nicole Strange fight with Wyoming's Carrie Bacon for a rebound in the Ducks’ 63 to 33
victory Saturday night.
Wolvert
key figure
in victory
By Allison Ross
Oregon Daily Emerald
To say she dominated the 1998 Pepsi
Shoot-out would be an understatement,
but that is exactly what Angelina Wolvert
did.
The Ducks walked away champions for
the fourth time in five years, and this time,
sophomore Angelina Wolvert was named
the tournament’s most valuable player.
Oregon jumped out to a 12-2 lead
against Wyoming on
Saturday with four
of its first six buck
ets belonging to
Wolvert. She was
seven of nine shoot
ing from the field
against the Cow
girls, leading the
team with 15 points.
But that was only
the tip of the iceberg.
WOLVERT
li was vvoiven s
ability to get better as the game pro
gressed that put her ahead of the pack,
storming into the second half against
Wyoming, as she did against Brigham
Young the day before, forcing steals,
blocking shots and totally disrupting the
opposition.
Wol vert's three steals and one blocked
shot against Wyoming were the primary
reason for the Cowgirls’ second-half
woes, in which they failed to score for
more than seven minutes after halftime.
“Coach Litzenberger always says the
first 10 minutes ofthe second half are the
most important,” Wolvert said. “It’s im
portant to build momentum, and that’s
what we tried to do."
But Wolvert and company did more
than try. They shut Wyoming’s offense
down and exploited its defense, widen
ing the gap to 44-17 on a full court pass
from Natasha O’Brien to Wolvert with
Turn to WOLVERT, Page 8
Oregon comes home from Mat-Town with fifth place
The Ducks performed well at the
Invitational, and three wrestlers
bring back third place trophies
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
Seven Oregon wrestlers placed in their respec
tive weight classes last Saturday as the Oregon
wrestling team placed fifth at the Mat-Town Invi
tational in Lockhaven, Pa.
However, no championship titles went to Ore
gon at the tournament.
But head coach Chuck Kearney was pleased
with his team’s performance.
“Last year we finished sixth at this tournament,
and this year we placed fifth,” Kearney said in a re
leased statement. “We’re a step ahead of where we
were last year.”
The Ducks were led by three wrestlers who
placed third in their respective weight classes, 165
pound Sean Morgan, 184-pound Doug Lee and
197-pound Chael Sonnen.
Morgan, ranked ninth in the nation at 165
pounds, won a 9-2 decision over seventh-ranked
Chad Liott of Rider. Lee, ranked No. 10 in the na
tion, won by forfeit over ninth-ranked Dave Mur
ray of Lock Haven.
WRESTLING
Fourth-ranked Chael Sonnen
also placed third at Mat-Town,
but that was more of a disap
pointment for the Ducks. Sonnen
lost a 6-2 decision to Lock
Haven’s unranked Ken Haines.
I he only other ranked wrestler
in Sonnen’s weight class had been No. 18 Shawn
Scanned of Rider.
“I told our kids afterwards that these tourna
ments are part of the learning process,” Kearney
said. “We wrestled extremely hard and we gained
a lot of experience today. We are learning how to
compete.”
Freshman David Watson, wrestling at 141
pounds, again showed his potential to be a major
part of Oregon wrestling in the future by finishing
in fourth place. In his Oregon debut on Nov. 21 at
the Southern Oregon Open, Watson finished sec
ond.
“Watson wrestled hard and with the intelligence
of a fifth-year senior,” Kearney said. “He’s still
young, but overall I’m very pleased with the way
he wrestled.”
Heavyweight Kevin Keeney finished in fourth
place after being pinned by Lehigh’s Shawn
Laughlin. Keeney is wrestling at heavyweight this
season after making the transition from the 167
pound weight class he wrestled in last year.
Also placing for Oregon was eighth-ranked, 157
pound Daryl Christian, who lost the decision to
Cornell’s Leo Urbinelli to finish sixth. Sean
O’Rourke, finished in seventh place at 174 pounds
by beating Old Dominion’s Josh Fannon 7-4.
The Ducks will have a week off before wrestling
in their first dual meet of the season at McArthur
Court against UC Davis on Dec. 12.
(( Last year
we finished
sixth at this
tournament,
and this year
we placed
fifth. We’re a
step ahead of
where we were
last year. >>
Chuck Kearney
Oregon head coach