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SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
Williams chosen
as first Duck for
U.S. hoops team
■ Shaquala Williams makes the cut for the
women’s World University Games, which will be
played in China this summer
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
For the first time in Oregon history, a member of the
Ducks’ women’s basketball program has been chosen
to represent the United States of America.
Shaquala Williams, the 2000 Pacific-10 Conference
women’s basketball Player of the Year, has been select
ed to the U.S.A. Basketball World University Games
Team.
Williams missed all of last season with a torn anteri
or cruciate ligament in her left knee that she suffered
in September, but she is fully recovered and impressed
the U.S.A. team coaches enough for them to pick her
after four days of trials, which ended Monday.
“I think for next season, because I missed this last
season, it s going to give me some of
those games back and some of those
practices back,” Williams said. “[It
also will] give me the opportunity
to practice against people every day
who are as good or better than me.
“That’s definitely going to push
me a lot.”
Williams will not be the first for
mer Duck to play in the World Uni
versity Games, though, as ex-Ore
gon athletes Alison Lang and Bev
Smith (a candidate for the vacant
head coaching position) played on the Canadian bas
ketball teams of the prestigious games in the late 1970s
and early ’80s.
This team is nothing new to Williams, who was se
lected as an alternate for the games following her su
perb freshman and sophomore campaigns as a Duck.
She earned her aforementioned Pac-10 honor after her
second year in the program when she averaged 17.7
points and 4.4 assists per game as a sophomore.
“I just kind of took all the things that I learned from
those two cuts and being out this year,” Williams said.
“I tried to apply them to playing this year, so I’m just
really happy and relieved.”
The World University Games will take place in Bei
jing, China, from Aug. 22 to Sept. 1 and will feature
some of the top women’s basketball players in the
world. Joining Williams on the U.S. team will be
Chantelle Anderson of Vanderbilt, Cori Enghusen of
Stanford, Chrissy Floyd of Clemson, Caton Hill of Ok
lahoma, Kara Lawson of Tennessee, Ashley McElhiney
Turn to Williams, page 12
WILLIAMS
Bracey, two other UO
athletes arrested after fight
Two University of Oregon athletes were arrested and
another cited after police were called to break up a
fight in a parking lot this weekend.
Bryan Brace}', 22, a senior forward and all-confer
ence baskethall player, was charged with disorderly
conduct after a party just after midnight Saturday,
Christopher Lombardo, 19, a third-string quarterback,
also was charged with disorderly conduct.
Both players were released on their own recogni
zance, police said.
A third athlete, 19-year-old defensive end Kevin
Mack, was cited for disorderly conduct and minor pos
sessing alcohol.
About 50 people witnessed the fight, which appar
ently began when Mack slapped Bracey, who then
punched Mack and kicked him in the head when he
was on the ground.
Mack was treated for a possible broken nose, a facial
cut and possible concussion, police said.
Lombardo was arrested because he tried to intervene
and was uncooperative with officers, police said.
The Associated Press
Emerald
Interim head coach Dan Muscatell (far left) and the women’s basketball team celebrate a victory over Oregon State last season at McArthur Court.
Deadline passes for UO vacancy
■ Dan Muscatell, the women’s
basketball interim head coach,
submits an application Monday
as Utah’s coach arrives on campus
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
Utah head coach Elaine Elliott, con
sidered by many to be one of the top
women’s basketball coaches in the
country, arrived in Eugene Monday
night and is expected to meet with
Athletic Director Bill Moos today about
Oregon’s coaching vacancy.
Also on Monday, the deadline to
submit an application for the position
made vacant April 30 when Jody
Runge resigned, Oregon assistant
coach Dan Muscatell opted to apply for
a position to remain with the program.
“I submitted a formal application to
one of the coaching positions avail
able,” said Muscatell, the primary re
cruiter who was
named the interim
head coach after
Runge’s resignation.
“It is my desire to
stay involved with
the program, and I
will let Moos and/or
whoever is the new
head coach decide
what capacity that will be.”
Arriving from the high school ranks,
where he coached for 16 seasons in
Washington, Muscatell joined the
women’s basketball team in 1999 and
quickly bonded with the Ducks.
“We trust him,” said guard Shaquala
Williams, who will be a junior next
year. “He and Kirsten [McKnight, an
assistant coach] have been here for a
few years and we trust them, and that’s
one of the most important things when
you’re rebuilding a program.”
While he is popular amongst the
team members, Muscatell is a hard sell
as a top head coaching candidate be
cause his resume boasts just two years
at the college level. And of the four
candidates on Moos’ short list, all are
head coaches at the college or national
level.
“It’s tough because he doesn’t have
the coaching experience at the college
level,” Williams said. “I think he could
Turn to Basketball, page 12
USC drops baton, UCLA grabs win
L
Tom Patterson Emerald
Long jumper Zee Ogarro and the Huskies finished last ip the Pac-10.
■The USC women’s track team contests UCLA’s Pac
10 championship, alleging that the Bruins knocked
the baton from Kinshasa Davis’ hand in the last race
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daiiy Emerald
In the battle of this season’s women’s track titans, Southern
California and UCLA collided figuratively — and perhaps lit
erally — at the Pacific-10 Conference Championships this
weekend.
The meet was decided in the final event, the 4x400 relay
race. UCLA won the event, while USC finished fifth, and the
Bruins edged the Trojans in the team com
petition by two points.
But the drama didn’t end in the points
column. After that final race, USC cried
foul because team members thought a
UCLA runner might have knocked the ba
ton out of a USC runner’s hand. As the
Bruins’ Adia McKinnon and the Trojans’
Kinshasa Davis battled around the final turn of the third leg,
the baton flew out of Davis’ hand and onto the infield. USC
team members thought McKinnon might have elbowed the
baton from Davis’ grasp.
“They should be disqualified,” Trojan anchor runner Brigita
Langerholc told The Associated Press. “[McKinnon] elbowed it
right out of Kinshasa’s hand.”
The points made the difference in the meet. If USC had fin
ished first or second, it would have taken the team title. Instead,
UCLA will likely hold the top spot in the nation heading into
the NCAA Championships May 30-June 2 at Hayward Field.
The Bruins won by dominating Sunday’s competition. On
the track, UCLA runners won the 400,100 hurdles and 400 hur
dles. Bruin athletes also took titles in the pole vault, shot put,
discus and hammer. UCLA ended Saturday’s competition with
only 12 points and won the title Sunday with 143.
Turn to Pac-10, page 8