Women’s
continued from page 9
from the floor and hadn’t been to
the foul line.
The Cardinal anticipated a
miss. Former gold medal-winning
Olympic coach Tara VanDerveer
had two timeouts remaining. A
well-executed set play could then
tie the game, or win it.
Really, it isn’t that complicated.
But when Wolvert’s first free
throw bounced off the iron and
into the hands of the Cardinal’s
Sarah Dimson, she paused.
So did point guard Milena Flo
res and VanDerveer. And the refs.
Then Dimson dropped the ball
and did nothing. Even the clock
stopped with 4.1 to go.
For the briefest instant, Stan
ford had no clue.
Flores w'as the first on the floor
to realize that Wolvert’s shots
were one-and-one — not the two
shot bonus — and with the clock
restarted, seconds winding down
and the ball sitting on the floor,
the senior guard raced over and
picked up the rock.
Error No. 2: Instead of using
one of her two timeouts, Flores
desperately hucked the ball
downcourt toward the basket.
The ball flew out of bounds, and
rather than set her team up for a
potential game-winning shot, Flo
res racked up her team’s 19th
turnover with .08 seconds left.
After that, it was over — al
most. The Ducks inbounded
twice, once after the clock started
early and time expired illegaly.
But Flores didn’t waste any
time on that second inbound
pass. She fouled point guard
Shaquala Williams before the ball
even touched a player, giving
Williams two free throws and
Oregon two more points in a wild
61-57 victory in front of 5,944 at
McArthur Court.
To say the least, it was a frus
trating finish for the Cardinal.
“The ref signals one-and-one,
we’re standing there, I don’t
know,” VanDerveer said. “Unfor
tunately, it didn’t come down to
that. We fouled to make her miss,
and she missed, and we get the
ball back, but people are just
standing around, I have no idea.
It’s extremely frustrating.”
Meanwhile, Oregon head coach
Jody Runge was in a much better
mood than her Stanford counter
part. She seemed tongue-in-cheek
as she recalled the final seconds
of regulation, saying she was ful
ly aware that Wolvert was shoot
Kevin Calame Emerald
Headache-free and loving it, Lindsey Dion takes it to the Cardinal Thursday night.
mg one-and-one.
“I was way ahead of that,”
Runge said. “[Assistant coach Dan
Muscatell] handles the officiating,
and if there was something that
would have come out of it I need
ed to be concerned about, then he
would have let me know.”
Stanford’s final breakdown was
not the only lapse. With the first
half winding down and the Ducks
up 28-25, Oregon forward Lind
sey Dion was nearly uncontested
as she grabbed her own rebound,
dribbled deep into the lane and
beat the buzzer with a short
jumper off the glass.
Dion continued to be a pres
ence in the second half, finishing
with a game-high 16 points, three
assists and three rebounds.
Dion said the Ducks played
partly for Betty Ann Boeving, a
former Duck who was in a car ac
cident prior to the game. Also,
Oregon hadn’t forgotten its earlier
bout at Stanford, when a 26-point
lead turned into a 16-point loss.
“We had a lot emotionally at
tached going in. We were talking
about how we went down there
and embarrassed ourselves with a
42-point turnaround. We decided
that wouldn’t be the case when
they came here.”
The Ducks are. looking for a
sweep when they play California
on Saturday at 7 p.m. Williams
said it is a game that Oregon
needs to keep in perspective.
“We’ve got to think about the
next game,” Williams said. “We
can’t get too high with the highs
and too low with the lows. We’ve
got to approach every game the
same.”
Dion
continued from page 9
Traits that Stanford players
have traditionally been known for.
Characteristics that Oregon play
ers are getting known for.
Dion returned the following
Thursday against Washington,
but she still wasn’t herself, wob
bling through 17 minutes of play
— and still managing to score
eight points and collect five
boards. And saying afterward,
that, yes, she had felt a little
“loopy” out there.
Two days after that on Jan. 22,
Dion chased down a loose ball,
collided with a Washington State
player and had to leave the game
with what everyone feared was
another concussion, but turned
out to be post-concussion syn
drome — which would keep her
out of action for a week, including
in the Ducks’ loss to Southern Cal
ifornia and then in the UCLA win.
But having missed that time
doesn’t matter now, because every
game from now on is the biggest,
the second-place Ducks (16-6,7-3)
will tell you.
“How do you eat an elephant,”
head coach Jody Runge analo
gized. “One bite at a time.”
If that’s the case, Dion was in ef
fect for Thursday’s big one.
But she’s always effective
against Stanford. It’s just a thing.
“Coincidental” Dion called it.
Last season, it was her 14 points
lhat led Oregon to its first triumph
over the Cardinal in 11 years.
Thursday night it was tying her ca
reer-high 16 that did the job.
Purely coincidence, sure. Inter
esting though, the non-statistical
similarities that exist between
Dion’s game and those of former
Stanford stars like Jamila Wide
man and Kate Starbird, who Dion,
like many young players, couldn’t
help but admire as she grew up.
Although Dion would never ac
knowledge such a likeness.
“Tonight was just my night to
step up,” Dion said. “And my
teammates made the right pass, I
just had the easy part of shooting
the basketball.”
Except that there was more to it.
Typical, timely Dion things.
The Ducks took a lead into half
time because Dion wanted them
to. With seconds to go, she drove
into the lane with an Tm-gonna
score’ mentality, missed the shot,
got the rebound and then the put
back. Ducks up five. Nice.
Then with less than two min
utes left in the game and Oregon
trailing 55-54, Dion did it again.
Driving the lane, pump-faking,
suckering three Stanford defend
ers into the air, banking home the
shot and drawing the foul —
which she converted to put the
Ducks ahead by two. Of course.
And when Angelina Wolvert
laid-in the deciding points a
minute later, it was Dion who got
the assist. No surprise there.
“I knew Lindsey was going to be
an All-American tonight,” Runge
said. “She was really disappoint
ed to not play in the game last
time, and being the California kid,
she just really wanted to make the
difference in winning this basket
ball game tonight. She was cer
tainly the difference in what hap
pened last time and what
happened this time.”
Mirjam Swanson is the sports editor at
the Emerald. She can be reached at
mswan@gladstone.uoregon.edu.
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