Sports briefs Track and field goes to Reno The Oregon men’s and women’s track and field teams start compe tition today at the Mountain Pacif ic Championships in Reno, Nev. Junior Holly Speight, who has equaled the provisional mark in the pole vault at 11 feet, 11 3/4 inches, needs six more inches to make the NCAA finals. Freshman Mary Et ter, whose season high in the shot put is 48-2, needs eight more inch es to earn a provisional mark. Sophomore Ross Krempley is within 1.89 seconds from a provi sional mark in the 800 meters. Ju nior Kyley Johnson looks for a 1-1/2 inch improvement to earn a provi sional height of 7-1 in the high jump. Soccer signs eight players Eight new recruits — four trans fers and four freshmen — have signed letters of intent to play for the Oregon women’s soccer team this fall, head coach Bill Steffen announced Wednesday. The four transfers are junior de fender Angela Romero from New Mexico, senior midfielder Mary Cascio from Portland State, sopho more defender Shelly Wallace from Portland arid junior forward Crystal David from San Francisco. Utility player Lindsey Werdell is from Churchill High School in Eugene, and defender Marie Selby is from Jesuit in Portland. Mid fielder Dara Wone comes from Vancouver, British Columbia, and Ann Westermark is from Sweden. Basketball continued from page 7 personality. And at McArthur Court on Thursday, in front of 7,465, the fifth largest crowd in school history, Ore gon fit the first-place profile nicely. At the end of an unflattering first half, in which only the Bru ins’ do-it-all senior Maylana Mar tin played particularly well by scoring 21 of her career-high 39 points, the teams headed for their locker rooms tied at 36. When they stepped back on the court, the Ducks made the neces sary adjustments. UCLA (15-8, 9 4) had not. In the opening moments of the half, guard Nicole Strange had the ball stripped by the Bruins’ Marie into the open court. But Strange recovered, caught up and then blocked her friend’s shot. The Ducks recovered, raced back and missed their initial shot. But Jenny Mowe ripped down the re bound, went back up, and got the bucket and the foul. She turned, faced her teammates and let loose her trademark shimmy. The Oregon bench was on its feet. The crowd was on its feet. And the Bruins were about to completely lose their footing. Shaquala Williams made a three. Strange broke up a pass and then converted a fast-break layup. Mowe blocked a shot, then made two free throws, then connected on a jumper. Strange hit a J. Wolvert made two free throws. Shaq hit another three. “We had a great start in the sec . ond half,” Oregon head coach Jody Runge said. “That was important, to knock the wind out of their sails. ” In six minutes, the Ducks built a 17-point lead and never looked back. Beside Martin — who ac counted for 54 percent of UCLA’s scoring — no UCLA player got go ing. In the process, Mac Court got loud like only it can, sound becom ing an almost touchable entity. “It’s a big crowd when you can’t hear coach Runge yelling at the top of her lungs in the huddle,” Mowe said. “Awesome, as usual.” It helped, of course, that Oregon gave fans something to cheer about. The Ducks played hard. Williams had a stellar game, scor ing 24 points, dishing out seven assists and collecting four steals. Dion, who was flagrantly fouled by Philman in the game’s closing minute, finished with a career-high 17 points and an innumerable amount of hustle plays, despite play ing on an injured left knee. Every one of the Ducks’ five starters plus their regular sixth player, Brianne Meharry, scored nine points or more. “It was a very balanced effort,” Runge said. “We had great play by everyone.” PAPA’S CHOICE LARGE PIZZA with up to 5 toppings for only $9 99 Offer valid thru 2/29/00 Not valid with any.other offer or special. Limited delivery area. WINTER TERM SPECIAL LARGE 2-TOPPING PIZZA & 2 cans of Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite or Barq’s... $099_ for only Offer valid thru 3/15/00 Not valid with any other offer or special. Limited delivery area. 008538 Serving S. Eugene & U of 0 484-PAPA (7272) Serving Springfield, Duck's Village, Chase Village and University Commons 746-PAPA (7272) Econo Phone Cards Lowest Rates Around the World. Pre-Paid Rechargeable Phone Cards. Australia.7$/m in U.K.5