Monday
Best Bet
NCAA Basketball: Connecticut at Syracuse
4 p.m., ESPN
SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
Laura Smit Emerald
Oregon forward Lindsey Dion (left), who came off the bench to score 15 points including a clutch shot in overtime, embraces teammate Brianne Meharry following the Ducks’ win against Washington Saturday.
Ducks knock Huskies from top of Pac-10
■ Oregon’s guards hit big shots down
the stretch as the Ducks beat rival
Washington Saturday
^ By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
At the end of a tremulous week for the
. Oregon women’s basketball team, the Ducks
made a firm decision about Saturday’s game
against Washington.
The Ducks decided not to lose, and they
didn’t.
When all was said and done, after 45
minutes of regulation plus overtime, Ore
gon (13-10 overall, 6-7 Pacific-10 Confer
ence) out-toughed and out-played the
Huskies (16-7, 9-4) in a 64-60 victory in
front of 5,144 fans.
After the game, Oregon players leapt into
each other’s arms near center court, cele
brating not only as if they’d
knocked off the Pac-10
leaders, but won a third
Pac-10 title themselves.
“It just came down to we
weren’t going to lose
again,” guard Jamie Craig
head said. “Having the
Huskies be the next on the
schedule helped because we don’t want to
lose to them.”
Turn to Women’s recap, page 12
UO men get control early
and win against Huskies
■The Ducks salvage their
Washington road trip by splitting
with the Huskies
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
SEATTLE — The five hour bus ride back
to Eugene was going to be long no matter
what.
But the Oregon men’s basketball team let
out a collective sigh of relief Saturday night
knowing it would embark on the trip after a
hard-earned victory, and not another hair
pulling defeat.
The slumping Ducks found reason to
smile again following their
85-73 victory over the
Washington Huskies at the
newly renovated Bank of
America Arena in Seattle.
“I’m so thankful that we
won because I didn’t want
to go home on the bus for
five hours thinking about
another loss,” freshman forward Luke Jack
son said.
BISXmilL
Turn to Men’s win, page 10
■ Forward Lindsey Dion, the ‘heart
and soul’of the team, returns to help
lead the Ducks to a sweet victory
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
Lindsey Dion wasn’t even supposed to
play against the Huskies Saturday.
Her sprained left ankle — which she in
jured a month ago at Washington — has not
properly healed and has limited her play
on the court in the Ducks’ recent five-game
slump.
In fact, Dion was put in a boot after
Thursday’s loss to Washington State, when
she played just 11 minutes. And she didn’t
practice Friday.
But against the dreaded No. 23 Huskies, a
team that the Oregon seniors have never lost
to, Dion refused to watch from the sidelines.
She came off the bench to score 15 points,
including a crucial jumper with 48 seconds
remaining in overtime to give the Ducks (10
13 overall, 6-7 Pacific-10 Conference) a 64
60 victory at McArthur Court.
“I was in a boot ’til about 12:15 to 12:30,”
Dion said of the 1 p.m. tipoff Saturday. “I
didn’t want to sit out. I was ready to play
through just about anything.”
An X-ray taken before the game revealed
Turn to Dion, page 9
Jackson shines in victory
with superb triple-double
■ Freshman Luke Jackson is the first
Oregon player to post such a statistic
since the men’s season of 1972
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
SEATTLE — When Luke Jackson stepped
into the Oregon locker room after the Ducks
beat Washington, 85-73, Saturday night at
Bank of America Arena, he found out some
thing amazing.
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent told the
freshman forward that he had just tallied a
triple-double against the Huskies, a feat no
Oregon player had accomplished since
1972.
“To see him do that goes beyond a special
game,” Kent said. “It’s just a special moment
for Oregon basketball.”
Jackson’s post-game line was remarkable:
14 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, two steals
and five fouls in 30 minutes of play. The
freshman notched the statistical accom
plishment in only his fourth start of the sea
son.
“He got the stat I’ve always wanted,” Ore
Turn to Jackson, page 9