Scoreboard UCLA (72) Min 23 39 17 36 Philman Martin Hubbard Gomez Kaczmarski26 Greco 14 Jackson 13 Funicello 12 Flannigan 20 FG 1- 5 17-22 2- 5 1- 4 3- 11 2- 2 0- 3 2-2 1- 3 FT 0-0 5-6 0-0 0-0 2-2 2-2 0-0 1-1 1-2 P 2 39 4 2 11 6 0 5 3 Totals 200 29-57 11-1330*21 72 Shooting: 50.9 3-point: 3-12 (Philman 0-1, Gomez 0-2, Kaczmarski 3-5, Jackson 0-2, Flan nigan 0-2) includes 0 team rebounds. OREGON (89) Min Dion Wolvert Mowe Williams Strange Shreve Craighead 17 Fredrick 1 Unaka 3 Meharry 22 28 32 21 35 29 12 FG 8-10 3- 5 4- 5 8-21 3-6 1- 4 2- 6 0-0 0-1 3-6 FT 1-2 5-6 2- 3 4-4 3- 5 2-2 0-0 0-0 0-0 3-4 P 17 11 10 24 9 Totals 200 32-64 20-2636* 6 22 Shooting: 50 3-point: 5-18 (Dion 0-2, Williams 4-10, Shreve 1-3, Craighead 0-3) ‘includes four team rebounds. attendance: 7,465 (fifth largest in Oregon women’s basketball history.) Players of the Game Even though the sopho more point guard said she prefers playing in hostile environments, Shaq sparked Oregon’s 10th home win of the season with 24 points, four steals and seven pretty assists. Playing on an injured left knee, Dion, a junior guard, went 8 of 10 and finished with a career high 17 points, to go with a team-high seven rebounds. LINDSEY DION Quotes of the Game “Oh, I don’t know if we want to go calling it a statement — but we did we sweep [UCLA] this year, home and away. ” Lindsey Dion junior forward “It was 36-36, so pretty much it was 0-0 and we had 20 minutes to play, and our guards just came out and had an incredible game tonight, hit a lot of really big shots and just took it away from UCLA. ” Angeline Wolvert junior forward Best Bet NBA Phoenix vs. New York 5 p.m., TNT Friday February 25,2000 Volume 101, Issue 105 Knftrakl Kapow! (JO runs UCLA out of Mac Oregon’s grasp on first place gets a little bit tighter with its third straight convincing win against UCLA On Tap What: Women’s bas ketball Who: Oregon vs. Southern California Where: McArthur Court When: Satur day, 7 p.m. By Mirjam Swanson Oregon Daily Emerald Oh, no. By no means is this a declaration. No way. The Oregon women’s bas ketball team’s overpowering 89-72 win against No. 22 UCLA — its third straight against the higher-ranked Bru ins—isn’t a pronounce ment of anything beside the fact that tile Ducks (20-6 overall, 11 3 Pacific-10 Conference) are taking every one of its remaining Pac-10 games seriously — including their next against Southern California (11-12,6-7) at 7 p.m. on Saturday. That’s all, claim Oregon’s players. “I don’t know if we want to go calling it a statement,” Ore gon forward Lindsey Dion said. “But we did sweep them this year, home and away. We did play really hard both games and that’s a tribute to the kind of team we are, the type of personality we have.” It’s a conference-leading Turn to Basketball, page 9 Catharine Kendall Emerald Lindsey Dion streaks to the hoop for one of her career-high 17 points in Thursday’s win. Believe it:power shifted north Scott Pesznecker To the dismay of 2,000 at McArthur Court last March, ESPN commentator Rebecca Lobo pro claimed power had shifted south in the Pacific-10 Conference. South from Stanford to UCLA, Much of that same crowd that packed the Pit a year ago was among the 7,465 who watched Oregon face off with No. 22 UCLA Thursday. And in the next 40 minutes, one thing became certain. Assuming the Ducks don’t crumble down the backstretch of the season, it is very possible that whoever calls this season’s NCAA bracket selection will repeat a familiar message: The balance of power in the Pac-10 has again shifted. The question is, to where? If history is an indication, then the loyal Mac Court crowd may again be disappointed. Oregon gets no respect—Stanford does. A split in the Pac-10 title between the Ducks and Cardinal would likely have the world of women’s basket ball seeing red on the West Coast. But settling all debate, one thing is clear. The power has shifted north. The Ducks have won their last three games with UCLA.. Last sea son, Oregon embarrassed the Bruins at Mac Court in a 106-79 win. Late in January, Oregon won the battle at Pauley Pavilion, 67-58. “Every time they talking about Pac-10 women’s basketball and they list Oregon, I al ways think about” last season’s Mac Court loss, senior Maylana Martin said. “If we would have beat them here, that would have made the dif ference between being co-champs and having it for ourselves. ” The Ducks picked up where they left off at home last season Thursday, 89-72. UCLA head coach Kathy Olivi Turn to Pesznecker page 8 UO lacks spark, lets UCLA get in NCAA hunt Oregon drops to 3-38 all time at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion and loses two straight for the first time all season By Jeff Smith Oregon Daily Emerald Ouch. This one hurt. Oregon’s 75-69 loss to UCLA Thursday night has made the road to the NCAA Tournament a lot more work than it had to be. But much more pertinent, it left the Ducks (18-7 over all, 9-5 Pacific-10 Confer ence) fighting to just hold onto third-place ahead of surging Arizona State (8-5 Pac-10) and Southern Cali fornia (7-6) — who knocked off Oregon State Thursday. And to make matters worse, the major bump along the way came in front of 7,672 at Pauley Pavilion — home of the heated rival Bruins (14-11,5-8). Oregon head coach Ernie Kent took his time in the locker room following the game before finally emerg ing to speak to the media. “It’s frustrating, we’re a team right now that is out of sync,” Kent said. “We’re go ing to have easier We need to find answers and quickly. ” The Ducks need to find is their shooting touch. In a surprisingly uninspired per formance, Oregon shot just 25-of-60 from the field, a measly 41.7 percent — but still 12 points higher than its 29 percent showing against Washington. And because of the Bruins’ strong inside defense, Oregon was often forced to step be yond the arc. Of the 21 threes attempted, only four went down — 19 percent — the same amount UCLA made off 14 fewer attempts. “You’re not going to win the ballgame playing that poorly,” Kent said. “There are some things we need to get back to doing because what is starting to happen is we’re get ting to be very unstable as a basketball team. And that’s where I come in as a coach to make some adjustments.” The Ducks were playing in a site where they hadn’t Turn to Men page 8 Leaders Scoring: (UO) Smith 23 (UCLA) Watson 22 Rebounds: (UO) Smith 6 (UCLA) Watson 10 Assists: (UO) Wright 3 (UCLA) Watson 5