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.