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Ducks keep NCAA hopes alive by beating ASU
Senior forward Jenny Mowe, defended by Arizona State’s Aubrey McFayden (11) and Melody Johnson (35), scored nine points in 23 minutes
in Oregon’s 63-56 victory Thursday.
■ Angelina Wolvert hits a rare three-pointer to seal
a huge win against Arizona State
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
Did everybody see that?
There was the Oregon women’s bas
ketball team, leading Pacific-10 Confer
ence leader Arizona State by four points
with 47 seconds left.
The Ducks came out of their own
timeout, no doubt with some brilliant
game-sealing play drawn up.
After the inbounds pass, the ball was
passed from Duck to Duck. The Sun Dev
ils’ defense was tenacious. Oregon’s play,
whatever it was, wasn’t going to work.
With the final seconds ticking off the
shot clock, the ball found its way into
the hands of Angelina Wolvert, who
stood outside the three-point line, right
in front of the Oregon bench. As the sen
ior forward spotted up for the despera
tion shot, a Sun Devil jumped up with
her hand extended skyward.
At that moment, if you were one of the
few Arizona State fans present among
the 4,774 in attendance, you’d have to
be feeling pretty good. Wolvert had only
hit one three-pointer all season, and the
Devils only trailed by four. There was
plenty of time left.
But when Wolvert rose up and let it
fly — when she thrust her right arm for
ward, launching the ball forth from the
palm of her hand — somehow, team
mate Alissa Edwards just knew it was
Tu rn to Women’s, page 16
((It’s kind
of frustrat
ing know
ing that
we’ve beat
both the
teams that
a re sup
posed to be
number
one.
Alissa
Edwards
Oregon point
guard yy
UO relishes giant killer role in victory over Devils
The Ducks
defeat the Pac
10’s top team
for the second
time at home
and hang on to
a slim chance
of making the
NCAA
Tournament
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
It’s a role that the Ducks aren’t used
to, but it’s a role that they’re relishing.
For the second time in as many home
games, the women’s basketball team
played the spoiler role in defeating the
Pacific-10 Conference’s top team.
Less than two weeks ago, it was No.
23 Washington that entered McArthur
Court with a grasp on the conference
lead, but left with the consolation prize.
Thursday night it was No. 22 Arizona
State that was knocked off the podium,
as the Ducks — hanging by the thinnest
of threats for a shot at the NCAA Tour
nament — defeated the Sun Devils 63
56 in front of 4,774 fans at The Pit.
“We’re kind of laughing about how
we’re the giant killers now,” said senior
forward Angelina Wolvert, who, with
36 seconds left, sank a desperation
three-pointer as the shot clock sounded
to provide the margin of victory. “It’s
just weird being in that position be
cause we haven’t been before.”
Ranked 67th in the latest RPI report,
Oregon (15-11 overall, 8-8 Pac-10) had
to beat Arizona State (19-8, 11-4) and
has to win its final two games — both at
home against Arizona and Oregon State
— to be considered for the Big Dance.
Arizona State head coach Charli
Thurner-Thome, days away from giving
birth to her second son, said after the
game that her team is in unfamiliar ter
ritory atop the conference standings.
“Oregon played awesome,” Thurner
Thome said. “They have a good group of
seniors that are used to being the [NCAA]
Tournament, and we don’t have that. It’s
kind of ironic because we’ve never been
close to being the giant.”
Ironic because Oregon, in the past
few years, has been the giant. Ironic be
Turn to Giant killers, page 16
Adam Amato Emerald
Angelina Wolvert led the Ducks with 15 points in their victory over the Sun Devils.
Oregon watches NIT hopes fade in tough ASU loss
Oregon s
postseason
hopes take a
huge hit as the
men get
burned at
Arizona State
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
TEMPE, Ariz. — At least Luke Rid
nour had an excuse.
The Oregon freshman point guard has
been battling the flu all week, so his zero
points in 13 minutes were understand
able.
But for the rest of the Oregon men's bas
ketball team, Thursday night’s lethargic
and embarrassing 86-74 defeat to Arizona
State left them dumbfounded.
“I can’t tell you [why]. We just made
mistakes,” said junior guard Freddie
Jones, who was Oregon’s lone bright
spot with a career-high 36 points.
“Horrible ... it's tough,” junior guard
Anthony Norwood said. Asked about
Oregon's postseason hopes, which took
a devastating blow with this loss, all
Norwood could quietly muster was, “I
don’t know.”
It was that type of night at the half
filled, relatively dormant Wells Fargo
Arena in Tempe, Ariz.
Consider this: Both teams combined
for 51 personal fouls and 45 turnovers.
And you know it’s bad when your
coach compares you to a slow-footed an
imal.
“We were like floundering sheep out
there,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent
said. “I called a timeout and could see
their body language and their eyes. We
just didn’t get it done. ”
The defeat means that any realistic
shot of Oregon (13-13 overall, 4-12 Pa
cific-10 Conference) qualifying for the
NIT rides on its ability to win its last two
games: Saturday against No. 9 Arizona
and March 10 at Oregon State.
“It was just a bad atmosphere
tonight,” Norwood said. “We know
we’re better than that. We didn’t take
care of business.”
Oregon had talked of seeking revenge
on the Sun Devils after losing to them by
2 7 points at home. Led by Jones, the Ducks
went on an 11-0 run that helped propel
them into halftime with a 3 7-31 advantage.
But then things turned U-G-L-Y for
the Ducks.
The Sun Devils came out from the
break red-hot. Alton Mason converted a
layup. Donnell Knight dropped in a
jumper. Chad Prewitt showed off his
shooting touch.
And then Tommy Smith drained a
field goal and threw down two emphatic
one-handed slams.
The result was a 17-3 Arizona State
run, which was soon extended to a 23-5
spurt that put the Ducks behind 54-42 at
the 12:35 mark.
From there on out, Oregon unsuccess
fully tried to play catch-up.
“We come out in the second half and
give them an opportunity to shoot 70
percent from the field, and you don't
beat a lot of teams that you give the op
portunity to shoot 70 percent,” Kent
Turn to Men’s, page 16