Oregon daily emerald., January 16, 2001, Image 7

SPORTS
Tuesday
Best Bet
NCAA Basketball: Tennessee at
Kentucky
6 p.m., ESPN
SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
Laura Smit Emerald
Oregon forward Lindsey Dion tries to drive around her Stanford opponent. Dion scored 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting in the Ducks’ win.
UO hands loss
to Stanford
■Guards Jamie Craighead and
Kourtney Shreve were on fire
from behind the arc in
Oregon’s win
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
Who did the Ducks beat Saturday
night?
The sign outside McArthur Court
indicated Oregon versus Stanford,
and sure enough, the opposing play
ers running up and down the court
were clad in Cardinal red.
But was that really the Cardinal?
Could a team such as Stanford —
the Pacific-10 Conference’s tradi
tional “measuring stick,” as Oregon
State head coach Judy Spoelstra
said Thursday night — really be
held to just 30.9 percent shooting
and lose by 18 points?
Especially after losing 81-65 two
nights earlier to the Beavers?
The official box scores confirm it:
Yes, that was the Cardinal.
And the No. 18 Oregon women’s
basketball team (10-3 overall, 3-0
Pac-10) dominated Stanford (7-7,1
3) in every facet of the game except
for rebounding, rolling to a 72-54
win in front of 7,602 fans at The Pit.
The Ducks were up 44-27 by half
time and never looked back. Their
3-0 conference record is second
only to Arizona’s (4-0).
“It was a big game, so we wanted
to come out and establish ourselves
early,” shooting guard Jamie Craig
head said. “I think we did that in all
phases of the game. We just pretty
much blew them away tonight.
“The Oregon State coach said ‘I
guess Stanford’s our measuring
stick,’ so maybe now we’re trying to
Turn to Women’s, page 9
(i It was
a b ig
game, so
we want
ed to
come out
and es
tablish
ourselves
early.
Jamie
Craighead
Oregon
shooting
guard
n
Stanford s woes continue without a pure point guard
Due to
injuries,
Stanford
faces a
similar
problem
that Oregon
had at point
guard
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
Oregon’s 72-54 embarrassment of
Stanford Saturday at McArthur Court
finished off one of the worst weeks in
Cardinal history.
A 16-point loss to the lowly Beavers
in Corvallis last Thursday surprised
the highly publicized Stanford club,
which was projected to finish atop the
Pacific-10 Conference this season.
And finishing the road trip in front
of 7,602 Duck fans was not the best
situation for head coach Tara Van
Derveer, who has lost her last three
games at The Pit and is 0-6 on the road
this season.
But that’s not even the beginning of
Stanford’s uncharacteristic start this
season (7-7 overall, 1-3 Pac-10). A
knee injury to freshman Susan King
ended her season on Dec. 27, and re
curring concussions to 1999 Freshman
of the Year Jamie Carey forced her to
retire from basketball, thus leaving the
former Pac-10 powerhouse without a
true point guard.
“We have a lot of players that take
pride in what they do, so this is very
painful for people,” VanDerveer said.
“This is a challenge for us, but I be
lieve that our players will rally.”
Thankfully for Cardinal fans (and
those Duck fans who like the rivalry),
it can only get better.
Nicole Powell, a 6-foot-2 freshman
who has never played the point, was
thrown into the role just before the be
ginning of conference play. She is still
adjusting to the position.
“I believe in Nicole,” VanDerveer
said after Powell’s first game at point
guard on Dec. 30. “She has a feel for
the game that you can't teach ... I
think she's fabulous. I really have
tremendous confidence in her as our
floor leader.”
Powell led Stanford with 12 points
and nine rebounds against the Ducks
and is considered to be the future of
the program.
“Like what happened to me, too, is
when you first step into the role
you’re a little uncomfortable,” said
Turn to Basketball, page 9
Oregon no match for the top-ranked team in the nation
The Ducks drop
two in the Bay
Area, but show
improvement
against
undefeated
Stanford
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
The cardinal rule about facing No. 1 Stan
ford in its own backyard is to play a near-per
fect game.
The Oregon men’s basketball team knew that
coming in, but it could do nothing to stop the
methodical domination of the top-ranked team
in the nation.
Stanford blew past the Ducks Saturday after
noon, 100-76, in front of a sold-out crowd of
7,391 at Maples Pavilion, as well as a national
audience watching on ABC.
The loss capped a miserable two-game road
swing through the Bay Area that included a de
feat at California Thursday. Oregon dropped to
10-3 overall and 1-2 in the Pacific-10 Confer
ence, while the Cardinal improved to 15-0, 4
0.
Oregon has not won a game at Stanford since
the 1986 season.
“They’re an awesome basketball team, as a
lot of people are going to find out,” Oregon
head coach Ernie Kent told KUGN. “But at the
same time, there’s some things that we could
have done a lot better tonight, and a lot of that
has to do with Stanford because they take you
out of a lot of things. They’re just so doggone
big all over the floor.”
On this afternoon, it was the deadly one-two
punch of junior center Jason Collins down low
and sophomore guard Casey Jacobsen from out
side. Collins had his way with the Duck big
men, scoring a career-high 24 points and grab
Turn to Men's, page 12