Ducks eager for first test
■ Women’s tennis opens
the Pac-10 season with the
annual Pac-10 Indoors
tournament in Seattle
By Matt O’Neill
for the Emerald
The Oregon women’s tennis
team opens Pacific-10 Confer
ence play this weekend in their
annual trip to the Pac-10 Indoors
in Seattle, Wash. The tourna
ment begins today and contin
ues through Sunday and will
have four flights of singles play
and two flights of doubles.
Head Coach Jack Griffinsees
the Indoors as a great way to
open the conference season. Be
cause all of the conference’s
schools will be represented,
Griffin said this trip will be a
great measuring stick for the
team.
“The Pac-10’s are a great way
to start the season,” Griffin said.
“There is no better tune-up for
us for the main season than
against some of the best players
in the country.”
All of the current members of
Griffin’s team will be making the
trip and will see action. Griffin
expects that senior Alina
Wygonowska will only see dou
bles action due to the flu. Fresh
man Monika Gieczys moves in
the top singles flight in her
place. i
“Alina is coming off the
flu,and is not moving around as
well as I’d like,” Griffin said.
“That moves Monika up to the
number one spot for the tourna
ment.”
There is a new Duck who will
be making the trip with the
team. Jeanette Mattsson, a native
of Sweden, recently enrolled at
Oregon and
is a big ad
dition to the
team ac
cording to
Griffin.
“Jeanette
has the po
tential to
play in our top four this year,”
Griffin said. “She might even
move into the top two before the
season is out.”
Mattson comes to the program
with numerous accolades and a
great deal of international expe
rience. She was ranked as high
as the top three in Sweden in the
junior circuit.
Mattsson will join the fresh
man Amy Juppenlatz in the sec
ond flight of singles. Sophomore
Janice Nyland and Sarah Col
istro will be in the third flight,
while Adeline Arnaud and Va
lerie Young will play in the
fourth flight.
The Ducks will field only four
ioubles teams at the tourna
nent. Wygonowska and Gieczys
will be the only team for Oregon
n the top flight. The other three
earns will all play in the second
light and will consist of the
iuos of Nyland and Juppenlatz,
Vlattsson and Colistro, and Ar
aaud and Young.
Griffin has been touting this
year’s team as one of the best at
Dregon in a long time, but he
Feels that it is now time to put
that statement on the line as
:onference play opens.
“Our team looks so deep and
so talented on paper that it is
hard to see why we can’t win a
lot of matches,” Griffin said.
‘But now is the time to translate
that team which is on paper onto
the court.”
He said that the depth and the
quality of players will act as a
motivating factor for many of
them. As long as the team re
mains healthy, there will be a lot
of players competing for the top
four spots.
“We have a lot of quality play
ers who want and are capable of
playing in the top four,” Griffin
said. “That should be a great mo
tivating factor for them. In the
past, we only had a couple of
great players who knew that
they would play pretty much all
the time.”
Garnett propels Wolves past Blazers
MINNEAPOLIS — Kevin Gar
nett hit the winning basket with
3.3 seconds left to cap a 27-point
performance as the Minnesota
Timberwolves beat Portland 98-96
on Thursday night.
Malik Sealy tied his season-high
with 27 points for Minnesota,
which won for the eighth time in
nine games. Terrell Brandon had
17 points, 14 assists and eight re
bounds.
Rasheed Wallace scored 24
points, and Steve Smith had 20 for
Portland, which had its six-game
winning streak snapped.
Portland had a 92-88 lead with
2:45 remaining before Garnett and
Brandon each made two free
throws to tie it with 1:52 left. The
teams then traded baskets twice
before Garnett banked in a 10-foot
er to win it.
Damon Stoudamire’s jumper
from the foul line, rimmed in and
out at the buzzer.
Leading 49-47, Portland took
advantage of eight Minnesota
turnovers in the third quarter to
extend its lead to 75-70. Smith
scored seven in the quarter and
Pippen added five.
Wallace scored nine in the first
quarter as Portland took a 27-20
lead.
Minnesota used a 9-2 run at the
start of the second to tie it at 29
with 8:46 left in the half.
Portland center Arvydas Sabo
nis didn’t play because of an up
per respiratory infection.
Notes: Minnesota activated cen
ter Dean Garrett, who had been on
the injured list since Dec. 17 be
cause of a sore left knee. He had
four points and three rebounds in
eight minutes.... Minnesota guard
William Avery played for the first
time in six games, following a bout
with the flu.... The Wolves are in
the midst of a tough stretch (Dec.
23-Jan. 19) when they play 11 of
13 games against opponents with
.500-plus records, including all
four division leaders. ... Sealy
shot ll-for-16 from the field and is
shooting 61.4 percent in his last 11
games.
Heat 111, Rockets 99
MIAMI — Alonzo Mourning
put a dreadful performance
against the Vancouver Grizzlies
behind him in a hurry.
Mourning, coming off a 12
point, eight-rebound effort in Mia
mi’s loss to Vancouver, had 28
points and blocked nine shot in
the Heat’s 111-99 victory over
Houston on Thursday night.
“He was phenomenal,” said
Houston coach Rudy Tom
janovich, who will coach Mourn
ing in the Olympics. “We didn’t
have anyone to deal with him. ...
He just overpowered us.”
Mourning was 12-of-15 from the
field as the Heat beat Houston for
the eighth straight time.
Steve Francis has 22 points for
the Rockets, who have lost six
straight on the road and 10 of 13
overall.
The rookie wasn’t impressed
with Mourning, saying the star
center got away with fouls on
some soaring dunks.
“He fouled me every single
time,” Francis said. “I was over
the rim.... I’m going to lift weights
tomorrow and get my legs stronger
so next time I play him I’ll put it
on his head five times.”
Jamal Mashburn had 19 points
and Dan Majerle added 16 for the
Heat.
Without retiree Charles Barkley
or injured Hakeem Qlajuwon up
front, Mourning had his way
down low against Carlos Rogers
and a lumbering Thomas Hamil
ton.
“I thought Zo was about as effi
cient as he could get on offense
and blocked shots,” coach Pat Ri
ley said. “We made a conscious ef
fort to drive the ball, execute the
offense and we attacked the rim.”
Mashburn and Mourning
scored 10 points apiece in the
third quarter to help the Heat ex
tend an 11-point halftime lead to
89-67 heading into the tourth
quarter. Eight of Mashburn’s
points came during an 18-6 run,
turning a 56-47 lead into a 74-53
rout.
Miami was 14-of-22 from the
floor in the quarter and outre
bounded Houston 12-6.
“We were beating them on the
boards in the first half but they just
wore us down,” Tomjanovich
said.
Shandon Anderson and Walt
Williams each had 17 points for
the Rockets.
Pacers 102, Nuggets 87
DENVER — Travis Best scored
13 points in the fourth quarter and
Sam Perkins hit key 3-pointers as
the Indiana Pacers ran their win
ning streak to a season-high seven
games with a 102-87 victory over
the Denver Nuggets on Thursday
night.
Reggie Miller finished with 20
points, Rik Smits had 17 and Best
15 as Indiana beat the Nuggets for
the eighth straight game.
Antonio McDyess led Denver
with 21 points and nine rebounds,
and Raef LaFrentz had 15 points.
Indiana, leading 76-74 after
three quarters, outscored Denver
26-13 in the final period.
After a free throw by LaFrentz
cut the deficit to 76-75, Best hit a
driving layup and followed with
two free throws, and Miller made
a fast-break layup for an 82-75
lead.
LaFrentz hit a layup, but Miller
countered with two free throws
and Austin Croshere hit the first of
three straight 3-pointers by the
Pacers. Perkins and Best followed
with 3s, and Best’s jumper com
pleted a 19-3 run, making it 95-78
with 5:22 left.
Indiana was 12-of-26 from 3
point range, including four by
Perkins, compared to Denver’s 4
of-13. The Pacers also were 14-of
15 from the line compared to Den
ver’s 13-of-23.
The Associated Press
Rocker to undergo
psychological testing
ATLANTA — John Rocker was
ordered by baseball to undergo
psychological tests before decid
ing whether to punish the outspo
ken reliever for remarks he made
disparaging gays, minorities and
immigrants.
Commissioner Bud Selig said
Thursday he will await the evalua
tion of the Atlanta Braves star be
fore deciding on any disciplinary
action.
“Mr. Rocker’s recent remarks
made to a national magazine re
porter were reprehensible and
completely inexcusable,” Selig
said in a statement. “I am pro
foundly concerned about the na
ture of those comments as well as
by certain other aspects of his be
havior.”
Selig said he will take “whatever
additional action that I consider to
be necessary” after Rocker’s eval
uation.
Braves president Stan Kasten
said at a news conference that he
thought punishment was warrant
ed, but said the commissioner’s of
fice will decide, not the team.
“It’s important that John gets
right with the organization, his
teammates and the community,”
Kasten said. “But we at least need
to give the man an opportunity to
demonstrate his heartfelt remorse
and correct the problem.”
He said if the comments had
been published during the season,
Rocker likely would have been
suspended indefinitely.
Kasten said the evaluation
should begin within days. He said
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releasing Rocker remains an op
tion but is unlikely.
Kasten said baseball officials
and the players’ association decid
ed the evaluations were appropri
ate. The two organizations jointly
will pick psychologists to evaluate
Rocker.
Rocker’s agent, Randy Hen
dricks, said neither he nor Rocker
would comment.
In his comments to Sports Illus
trated last month, Rocker said he
would never play for a New York
team because he didn’t want to
ride a train “next to some queer
with AIDS.” He also bashed immi
grants, saying, “I’m not a very big
fan of foreigners ... How the hell
did they get in this country?”
While driving in Atlanta during
the interview, Rocker spit on a toll
machine and mocked Asian
women: “Look! Look at this idiot,”
he said. “I guarantee you she’s a
Japanese woman. How bad are
Asian women at driving?”
He also called a black teammate
“a fat monkey.”
Rocker later apologized and said
he was not a racist, but several ad
vocacy groups said the written
apology and baseball’s action thus
far was not enough.
“We have asked for his termina
tion and still stand by that,” Jeff
Graham, executive director of At
lanta’s AIDS Survival Project, said
Thursday. “This certainly falls
short of what we asked for and
think is appropriate.”
The Associated Press
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