Monday
March 8,1999
NIT Tickets
Tickets for the Men’s NIT game against Georgia
Tech on Wednesday at Mac Court at 9 p.m. go
on sale Monday morning at 9 a.m. at the
Casanova Center. Student tickets will cost $4
Oregon women grab share of Pac-10 title
Seniors Lisa Boivyer and Natasha
0 'Brien lead the way as Oregon
claims its first Pac-10 crown
By Joel Hood
Oregon Daily Emerald
This time Oregon left no doubt.
Given a second chance to win the Pacific-10
Conference championship on Saturday, the Ore
gon women’s basketball team proved to itself, its
coaches, its fans — and most of all California —
which team is tops in the Pac-10.
And now the Ducks will get the rings to show for
it.
Lisa Bowyer scored 16 points, and fellow senior
Natasha O’Brien added 14, to lift Oregon to an em
phatic 80-57 victory over the Bears at Kaiser Arena
and into a share of the Pacific-10 Conference cham
pionship with UCLA.
The No. 15 Ducks (24-5 overall, 15-3 in the
1 ---—-—
Pac-10) learned on Sunday that their NCAA
Tournament first-round opponent will be Cincin
nati in Ames, Iowa on Friday, March 12. Oregon
received a No. 5 seed in the Mideast Region and
could matchup with host Iowa State in the sec
ond round.
“We're really excited about the
way this season has gone. We
could have lost any game in the
second half once we got into the
driver’s seat,” Oregon head
coach Jody Runge said of the
Ducks’ first Pac-10 title and its
sixth straight NCAA Tournament
usinuui
appearance.
Oregon had a chance to grab the outright Pac-10
title on Thursday but suffered a bruising, 82-73
loss to Stanford at Maples Pavilion. However, the
Ducks showed little effects of it on Saturday, jump
ing out to a 14-3 run on the Bears and holding
them to less than 30 percent shooting from the
field in the first half.
Oregon extended its lead to 27 points in the sec
ond half following back-to-back-to-back jumpers
by forward Nicole Strange with just more than sev
en minutes to play. California scored the next six
points, to trim the Ducks’ lead to 65-44, but Oregon
countered with a 8-2 run to end any kind of a
threat by the Bears.
In the final few moments, Runge emptied the
bench and the players celebrated their first Pac
10 title. After the game, Oregon was allowed to
cut down California’s nets, a honor historically
given to NCAA Tournament and conference
champions.
Point guard Shaquala Williams, who earlier in
the week was awarded with Pac-10 Freshman of
the Year and first-team all-conference honors, had
eight points and seven assists, while the Ducks had
Turn to WOMEN, Page 16
BOWYER
Ducks smash
Cal, break into
postseason play
The NIT is
waiting
after the
Oregon
men’s
basketball
team
defeated
California,
93-82
Leaders
leading scorers
UO: Scales, 21
Cal: Lampley, 21
Leading rebounders
UO: Smith, 8
Cal: Lampley, 11
Leading assists:
UO: Jones, 6
Cai: Carlisle, 5
By Tim Pyle
Oregon Daily Emerald
If Saturday afternoon’s matchup was tru
ly the foretelling tilt between postseason
contenders that it was billed as, then the
Oregon men’s basketball team showed it
belongs in the National Invitation Tourna
ment — convincingly.
In dismantling California, 93-82, the
Ducks (16-11 overall, 8-10 Pacific-10 Con
ference) treated the 8,956 fans in atten
dance at McArthur Court to an all-around
performance that included all 10 Oregon
players scoring and five Ducks topping
double figures.
“We are not in the NCAAs, but I think
we’d be a good NCAA team,” head coach
Ernie Kent said. “I feel that’s our destiny
down the road.”
Oregon blistered the Golden Bears (17
11, 8-10), who had won three straight to
reach the brink of an NCAA Tournament
bid, by shooting .522 from the field, in
cluding 11 for 21 from three-point range.
Junior forward Alex Scales topped off
his superb play in the second half of the
Pac-10 season with a team-high 21 points
on eight-of-15 shooting, six rebounds and
three assists.
“Even though we had the loss to Stan
ford [73-61 last Thursday],” Scales said,
“we wanted to come out and prove a point
to Cal and use them as a stepping stone to
the NIT.”
Seniors Terik Brown and Mike Carson,
playing in their last regular-season games
for Oregon, hooked up for the Ducks’ final
points with 43 seconds remaining, when
Brown dribbled through a crowd and
found Carson cutting to the basket for an
emphatic, two-handed dunk that brought
the crowd to its feet.
“It felt good,” Carson said. “It’s a great
way to go out on a play like that. The fans
have just been great to me this season, and
it’s just been a great ride for me.”
Brown bounced back from his lackluster
performance in Thursday night’s loss to
Stanford with 16 points, six rebounds and
four assists. And Brown treated Oregon
fans to a team-high four three-pointers in
six attempts, which constituted a fitting
end to a career that has been defined by
Turn to MEN, Page 12
. Nick Medky/Fmeruid
Oregon guard Yasir Rosamond deceptively dishes around California’s Shahar Gordon during the Ducks’ 93-82 victory Saturday afternoon at
McArthur Court.