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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 2001)
Friday Best Bet Tennis: Australian Open, Women’s Singles Final 6:30 p.m., ESPN SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com Women’s second loss forgettable in every way Adam Amato Emerald Oregon forward Alyssa Fredrick struggles to get a shot up over USC center Portia Mitchell. ■ Oregon loses to USC for the third straight time and rides a two-game losing streak By Scott Pesznecker Oregon Daily Emerald Ladies and gentlemen, Oregon women’s bas ketball doesn’t get any uglier than this. Twenty-five turnovers. Twenty-four personal fouls. A horrendous 16-for-32 from the foul line, ac companied by 17-for-45 shooting (37.8 percent) from the floor. And, to cap such a forget table night, the Ducks received their third straight loss to an athletic Southern California team by a final score of 55-53. An NCAA Division-I basket ball game transpires in 40 clock minutes. Due to time-outs, fouls, two quarter breaks and halftime, a typical game actually lasts about an hour and 45 minutes. Thursday’s game lasted 2 hours and 20 min utes. Ask any of the 4,349 fans at McArthur Court Thursday, and they’d probably tell you the game seemed a lot longer than that. “During the whole game, I never felt like we got into a good flow offensively,” said forward Brianne Meharry, who fouled out with 14 sec onds left. “Defensively, we’d make a good play, and we’d come down and turn it over on offense. Offense would finally get something going, and we’d come down, foul and screw up on defense.” Oregon’s (11-5 overall, 4-2 Pacific-10 Confer ence) final two possessions were painstakingly long. Trailing the Trojans 54-53, senior forward Lindsey Dion drove downcourt with about 20 seconds to go and missed a short jumper. Meharry fouled out for her seventh time this season when she hacked USC center Ebony Hoff man, who sank the second of the two ensuing free throws. The Ducks inbounded the ball with 14 sec onds left, and again, the ball went to Dion. This time, Dion pulled up from just inside the three point line — and shot an air ball. Luck smiled on Oregon when the Trojans (7-9, 2-4) lost the rebound out of bounds with 7.4 re maining. Dion took another shot, which was blocked. The ball landed in the hands of Oregon point guard Kourtney Shreve, but Hoffman blocked the sophomore’s desperation shot. “I thought they were going to call a foul,” said Hoffman, a freshman who recorded her first ca reer double-double with 19 points and 17 re bounds. “She had it behind her head, so I thought I might as well just take it and get at least a jump ball and let the clock run out. It worked, and we came out with a victory.” The Ducks, playing without injured senior for ward Angelina Wolvert, have now lost two in a row. Both losses — the first setback was to Wash ington State last Saturday — were determined in the final seconds. Thursday’s officiating by referees Melissa Bar low, Kim Balque and Marianne Karp left a sour taste in Oregon head coach Jody Runge’s mouth. About four minutes into the second half, the Ducks had committed just one foul compared to USC’s six. Through the next six minutes, the Tro jans were called for just four fouls while Oregon was whistled for 10. “Melissa [Barlow] told me when it was [6-1] that they were evening it up,” Runge said. “If I get in trouble for that, I’m.quoting her., “It’s a frustrating thing when people think that fouls should be even, because they can apply all kinds of pressure, and we’re getting a hand-check foul every time we come down the floor. It’s a tough deal.” Oregon takes its two-game losing skid into its 1 p.m. Saturday matchup with UCLA at The Pit. Dion can t tmd offensive niche in frustrating loss to USC ■ As Lindsey Dion goes, so go the Ducks: The senior forward says she ‘didn’t have the confidence’ By Adam Jude Oregon Daily Emerald Lindsey Dion’s somber look and quiet words summed up Oregon’s performance Thursday night. As the women’s basketball team’s emotional leader, the senior for ward’s confidence typically reflects the attitude of the entire team. And in Thursday’s 55-53 loss to South ern California, the scenario was no different—except it didn’t go exact ly as it usually does. With 14 seconds remaining and Oregon trailing by two, Dion re ceived the inbounds pass, drove the length of the court, pulled up from 18 feet and... threw up an air ball. But, fortunately for the Ducks, the ball was tipped out by USC, giving Oregon a ray of hope. The ball went to Dion again, who, with less than five seconds, turned, leaped and ... was blocked, crushing the Ducks’ con fidence and their undefeated mark at home this season. “There was no real contact there ... I just completely dropped the ball when it was in my hands,” Dion said. “I didn’t have the confi dence in myself to make the shot, and I didn’t make it. I just choked.” Prior to Thursday’s loss, Oregon had compiled an impressive 28-4 record with Dion in the starting lineup. But, as it seems to be going for the ailing Ducks lately, things just didn’t seem to click. Dion’s lack of confidence resem bled Oregon’s lack of chemistry of fensively. With an aggressive, ath letic Trojan defense, the Ducks were not able to make many solid runs or take many open looks from behind the arc. Heading into the game, the team was averaging more than 13 three-point attempts, but took just seven against USC. “They really got in our heads of fensively,” Oregon head coach Jody Runge said. “We’re having a lot of confidence issues right now, especially shooting free-throws.” From behind the charity stripe, Oregon shot a dismal 50 percent, far below its season average of 70 percent. “We played a little tentative and missed a lot of easy ones,” said sen ior forward Brianne Meharry, who led the Ducks with 12 points. “ I def initely don’t think that that was even close to our full potential.” A left ankle sprain kept Dion on the sideline in the Ducks’ loss last Saturday at Washington State, but she said it had little to do with her play against USC Thursday; De spite the injury, Dion finished the game with 10 points and three steals in 34 minutes. Oregon will try to snap the two game skid against UCLA at 1 p.m. Saturday at Mac Court. “We faced a lot of adversity be fore, and we’re a resilient bunch, so I think we’ll be all right on Sat urday,” Dion said. Men out-rebounded, outplayed, outlasted by USC in loss ■The Trojans are able to withstand several runs by Oregon and beat the Ducks 78-74 in the Sports Arena By Peter Hockaday Oregon Daily Emerald The Oregon men’s basketball team kept knocking on USC’s L.A. Sports Arena door Thursday night, but the No. 25 Trojans wouldn’t let them in, and beat the Ducks 78-74 in Los Angeles. Oregon (11-5 overall, 2-4 Pacific 10 Conference) made several runs, but couldn’t overcome a three minute stretch in the first half when USC (14-4, 4-2) turned a one-point lead into a 13-point cushion. The Ducks cut the Trojan lead to 10 points at halftime, to five with 17:21 left in the second frame and to three points with nine seconds left in the game, but never tied or led in the second half. “When you can play with the kind of intensity and courage we played with tonight, that tells me a lot,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent told KUGN after the game. “But we did n’t get it done.” The Ducks’ most valiant attempt to take control of the game came with 4:54 left, when freshman James Davis and junior Bryan Bracey hit back-to-back three-point ers to bring the score to 68-58. After USC forward Brian Scalabrine hit a layup, Davis hit another three and Bracey converted two free throws to cut the Trojan lead to 70-63. Later, with the Trojans leading 73-67 and 1:39 on the clock, Oregon guard Freddie Jones stole the ball and was fouled while shooting on the fast break. He converted the ex tra point to bring the Ducks to with in three points. After trading baskets, USC had the ball with 19 seconds left, but there were only five seconds on the shot clock when Oregon’s Davis fouled USC’s Brandon Glanville. After Glanville hit one of his free throws, the Ducks were unable to convert their chances and lost by four points. “I’m encouraged we fought so hard,” Kent said. “Class is still in session for this team.” The Trojans were the professors for the Ducks Thursday night, as USC put on an offensive rebound ing clinic that was the difference in the game. The Trojans out-rebound ed the Ducks 36-18, and USC had 12 offensive rebounds that went for second-chance baskets. “Rebounding was the worst part of the loss,” Kent said. “We gave them way too many second-chance points in the first half.” Despite the rebounding differ ence, Oregon’s big men kept the Ducks in the game all night. Oregon center Chris Christoffersen had eight points on 4-for-5 shooting and two rebounds in only 10 minutes of court time. Forward Flo Hartenstein had three key baskets late in the near-upset. USC’s big men had big nights. Scalabrine, the Trojans’ carrot topped forward who had been in a slump until Thursday night, hit 8 of 20 from the floor and scored 20 points. Center Sam Clancy, the Pac 10’s second-leading scorer behind Bracey, netted a team-high 21 points. “We probably had about 50 men tal mistakes out there tonight,” Kent , said. “But if you eliminate a third of those, you beat that team. We can play with UCLA.” The Ducks will face the Bruins Sat urday at 5 p.m. in a game televised nationally on Fox Sports Net.
