Bryant’s defense beautiful in win By Chris Sheridan The Associated Press PHILADELPHIA— Kobe Bryant’s defense didn’t just neu tralize Allen Iverson’s offense, it completely shut it down. Bryant held Iverson scoreless in the second half and scored his team’s final six points Sunday to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to their seventh straight win, 87-84 over the Philadelphia 76ers. “What I tried to do was put my self in his shoes,” Bryant said. “In the past when I’ve had games where I’m struggling, any mo ment I could go off. I’m sure he was thinking the same way, so I just played him.” And play him he did, blocking Iverson’s shots from in front and behind and forcing him to drive the middle where Shaquille O’Neal was waiting. Bryant and O’Neal each blocked shots by Iverson in the fi nal 3.3 seconds, contributing to his O-for-11 second half. The Lak ers scored 11 of the game’s final 14 points as an increasingly frus trated Iverson kept driving the lane, shooting against double- and triple-teams and looking for foul calls that never came. “They played defense very well, and the referees never called a foul every time he went to the goal,” Sixers coach Larry Brown said. “I thought (Iverson) was pretty upset the whole second half. I don’t think you can blame him. His coach tells him to get to Women continued from page 11 to be that night.” To say the least, it was a land mark win. The win also gave Oregon sole possession of first-place in the Pac-10, and extended Runge’s streak of wins against Northwest schools to 27 games. Oregon overcame 26 turnovers, 12 of which were committed in the first 13 minutes. The Ducks, one of the league’s best free-throw shooting teams, shot a pathetic 45.5 percent from the charity stripe. The Huskies out-bombed Oregon from behind the three point line, 40 percent compared to 26.7 percent, respectively. But most of all, this game could be a “shot in the arm,” as Runge would say, because a young-but seasoned Duck lineup came from behind and won. They overcame the loss of their best player in front of 6,162 fans at Key Arena. “That’s a huge credit to the dif ferent players who stepped up who really had been struggling through out the game,” Runge said. “To do it without Shaq on the floor is a huge boost of confidence for the players who were out there.” Three days after scoring 18 points against Washington State, Williams was en route to possible Pac-10 Player of the Week honors with 20 points on 8-of-ll shooting in 32 minutes. The point guard also had three assists and seven rebounds. But with 6:50 left to play and the Ducks trailing 58-60, Williams’ nationally-televised shooting clinic came to an abrupt end when she hit the hand of a shooting Julia Gray. Washington began to pull away as Oregon went dry. Freshman point guard Kourtney Shreve hit a three-pointer to cubthe lead to 65 61, but uncontested baskets by for the free-throw line, try to drive it to the basket.” Bryant finished with 18 points, seven assists and five blocks, while O’Neal nearly had the sec ond triple-double of his career with 22 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists. Glen Rice contributed 18 points for the Lakers, who improved to 4-0 on their current six-game East ern road trip with games upcom ing against New Jersey and Cleve land. “These next two teams we are supposed to beat, so yeah,” O’Neal said when asked if a per fect road trip was likely. O’Neal, whose lone career triple-double came in 1993, had a chance for his 10th assist when he fed a wide-open Brian Shaw with 51 seconds left. But Shaw badly missed an 18-footer. “I got fouled on that play,” Shaw claimed. “I’m not a great shooter, but I’m not that bad ei ther. But at that point in the game they’re not going to call that.” With the Sixers trailing by one and the clock ticking inside 10 seconds, Iverson drove the right side of the lane and had a runner cleanly blocked by Bryant while Toni Kukoc stood unguarded in the corner. Bryant made two free throws with 1.7 seconds left for a three point cushion, and Iverson’s 3 point attempt at the buzzer was swatted away by O’Neal. wards Bmily Autrey and LeAnn Sheets pushed the deficit to eight. And then, the elbow heard ‘round the Northwest. Oregon retained possession af ter Franza left the floor, and senior Nicole Strange ignited the scoring .run with a clutch jump shot from the top of the paint. Then following an ensuing timeout, Craighead backed her whack with a three-point shot. Again, Strange hit a crucial jumper, this one coming from be hind the backboard along the baseline, and Oregon was down by one, 69-68, with 1:06 remain ing.And it was Craighead one more time on Oregon’s final pos session. But instead of shooting the ball, the sophomore passed the ball inside to Wolvert, who powered past her defender to score the game-winning bucket. “As tough as a struggle as we had offensively tonight, we really willed it to happen in the last cou ple minutes of this game and that’s a tremendous credit to this team,” Runge said. Washington forward Loree Payne, a freshman, led all scorers with 24 points on 10-of-20 shoot ing in 37 minutes. Autrey scored 11 points, including the first three-point basket of her career early in the second half. Junior forward Lindsey Dion braved a sore knee for 24 minutes, coming out of the game in the sec ond half for good with nine points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Oregon has three days to rest be fore facing UCLA at McArthur Court on Thursday at 7 p.m. in a matchup that will have huge im plication»on the Pac-10 title race. “We’ve got to have a big win at home,” Wolvert said. “We’ve got to get a lot of people out there, so Duck fans, if you have nothing to do, or if you’ve got something to do, change your plans. Ideal for Grad Students! • 1 & 2 Bedrooms • Quiet & Large • Gas Fireplace • Air Conditioning • Laundry Hookups • Free Cable Come check us out!! McKenna Estates 342-5735 near Autzen Stadium BIKE-AID 2000 - Pedal for the Planet! A cross-country bicycle ride for Education and Action! 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