Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamjude@dailyemerald.com
Assistant Sports Editor:
Jeff Smith
jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com
4
o8$t Bet
NCAA basketball:
Oregon at Washington
7 p.m., KEZI
Thursday, January 24,2002
■ This year’s freshmen class has given the
women’s basketball team a much-needed
boost—both on and off the court
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
If Amy Taylor had her way, she’d be home right now, in
Seattle, practicing with the Washington Huskies women’s
basketball team, preparing for a game against rival Washing
ton State this weekend.
Then, after the game, she would make the 10-minute trip
north to her suburban home in Shoreline and have a nice
home-cooked meal.
Instead, Taylor will throw on her white Oregon uniform
tonight for a 7 p.m. bout with Southern California at
McArthur Court, and, if things go well, dress for a late-night
dessert at the University Inn.
“Growing up in Seattle, yeah, I wanted to go to UW,” said
Taylor, one of six freshmen to join the Oregon women’s team
this year, “but I’m glad I’m here now.”
Freshmen guard Kedzie Gunderson, of
Bellevue, Wash., was in a similar situa
tion in high school. Oregon was not even
an option for her in the beginning.
“I wasn’t even looking at Oregon, and
they weren’t heavily recruiting me,” Gun
derson said. “I was always like ‘I want to
get out of the Northwest, I don’t want to
be in another Seattle.’ But I made the re
cruiting trip (to Eugene) and gave it a
chance. Once I visited, I loved it.”
And the program is loving its fresh
men, which was ranked by All-Star Girls
Report as the 17th-best recruiting class in
the country.
The Ducks’ four other recruits — An
drea Bills, Brandi Davis, Amy Parrish and
Catherria Turner — also came from be
yond the Oregon state borders, but have,
with the exception of one, found a com
mon bond — die team.
With rave reviews, the freshmen have
brought an ailing team together. With the
departure of four starters from last year’s
team plus the addition of a new coach, Bev Smith, the face of
Oregon women’s basketball suddenly shifted 180 degrees.
“Before the recruiting process began, we knew that we
were going to lose a lot of points and a lot of rebounds, but
we lost a lot of kids that defined the Oregon program,” said
assistant coach Dan Muscatell, the recruiting coordinator and
the sole survivor from former coach Jody Runge’s staff. “(The
freshmen) were recruited with the idea of replacing some of
that — and they’ve done a great job. They not only represent a
fine group of players, but a fine group of people.”
The evidence is everywhere, perhaps most notably in the
panache of the upperclassmen. Every so often, veteran guard
Shaquala Williams flashes a smile — a rarity in her first three
years in the program.
Andrea Bills
Kedzie Gunderson
Amy Parrish
This team is so funny and so outgoing that it would be im
possible to sit in a room and not get involved in a conversa
tion,” Williams said. “They just draw you in and open you
up and make you feel comfortable.
“Their personality is far different from any we’ve had here
before. We never used to laugh in practice before; everything
was always so serious.”
Turner is the lone exception to the freshmen fairy tale. The
5-foot-6 guard from Tucson, Ariz., who averaged a triple-dou
ble in high school, requested and was granted her release
from the team on Jan. 9, after playing in just six games.
On a team with five returning guards, playing time has
been tough to come by for the freshmen guards. As Taylor
said, “You come from high school where you are the star of
the team,” to become one of the last people off the bench.
It’s not an easy transition for anyone. Turner will finish the
academic year at Oregon and will likely transfer after that,
Parrish said. The five remaining Ducks are contributing as
best they can now, while anticipating the future.
Bills
Of all the freshmen, the 6-foot-3 post from Moreno Valley,
Calif., has made the most progress this year — mainly be
cause she’s had to.
The only true center on the team, Bills has become a key
reserve in the paint, averaging nearly 20 minutes per game
since Pac-10 play started. She is also averaging 8.6 points per
game during conference play (third-best on the team) and 5.4
rebounds.
“She can be one of the most powerful forces Oregon’s ever
had,” Taylor said of Bills. “She’s not as big as (former Oregon
center) Jenny Mowe, but she can pound people. I really
admire her.”
Bills’ Kryptonite?
“I’m working on my free throws,” said Bills, who is shoot
ing just 40 percent from the charity stripe this season.
Davis
“You never know what you’ve got until it’s gone,” said the
6-foot guard of sitting out this season for academic reasons.
Davis is a “partial qualifier” this season, meaning she can
only participate in practices. She will eligible to play next
year as a sophomore and can play a fourth year if she gets her
degree in four years.
“I have to earn it back, which is what I’m doing,” the Sono
ra, Calif., native said. “Academics have been great for me. I
did better than I thought I would do. I’m not satisfied, but I
know what I can do now.”
Oregon fans won’t see Davis on the court until next year,
which can’t come soon enough for her.
“I cannot wait to play with all of them,” Davis said of her
freshmen counterparts. “I am so excited just to watch us grow
as a team.”
Turn to Freshmen, page 10
Ducks look to end
skid against Trojans
■The second-half of Pac-10 play opens
for the Ducks tonight with USC coming to the Pit
By Hank Hager
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Oregon women’s basketball team entered the 2001
02 season expecting a big change from last year.
For the most part, they were right. The
players are different and so are the coach
es, but when it comes right down to it,
this year mirrors the 2000-01 season more
than meets the eye.
At the end of the first half in the 2000-01
campaign, the Ducks were 5-4, having
come off two straight losses to Arizona and
Arizona State. This season, Oregon is again
5-4 in the Pac-10, again having lost two straight games. This
time, the culprits are Stanford and Oregon State.
The 2001 Ducks were able to pull off a late season run,
• Turn to Women’s-, page A 0
Ridnour returns home with fan support
■Oregon guard Luke Ridnour
and the Ducks head to Washington
to face the Huskies and Cougars
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
The city of Blaine, Wash., nestled
next to the Canadian border, has a pop
ulation of about 3,500. The Washington
basketball team’s Bank of America
Pavilion could hold
the entire population
of Blaine nearly three
times over.
Tonight, they’ll try.
Blaine’s favorite
son, Luke Ridnour, is
returning to his home
state for the second
time this weekend as an Oregon star.
For the sophomore point guard, that
means a chance to see family and a
• > heok* of a-lot. of friends* • .......... .
■nil
BASKETBALL
“I’m just excited to get back home,”
Ridnour said.
And with the Huskies sliding, Ore
gon fans just might outnumber the
Washington supporters.
“Maybe not,” Ridnour said with a
smile Wednesday. “But there’ll be a fair
share of Oregon fans there.”
Ridnour and the 19th-ranked Ducks
(14-4 overall, 6-1 Pacific-10 Conference)
will head to Washington with the goal of
staying atop the Pac-10 standings, where
they have been perched since last week
end’s conference games. With Southern
California — the team co-leading the
Pac-10 with Oregon — facing Bay Area
foes Stanford and California, the Ducks
could very well be playing for sole pos
session of the conference’s top spot.
On the surface, Washington seems
like a team ill-suited to knock Oregon
off its horse. The Huskies have lost nine
of their last 10 games, and hold a 7-11
oveFaJl-reeorch l-7.inthe Pao-IQ..
Washington State, Oregon’s oppo
nent on Saturday, is worse. The
Cougars are a dismal 4-12 overall and
haven’t won a conference contest in
eight tries this season. Dating back to
last year, Washington State has
dropped 12 of 13 Pac-10 games, with
their only win coming against — sur
prise — Washington.
But beneath the surface lay two
teams still capable of surprising an un
wary conference foe, and the Ducks are
preparing accordingly.
“Every game in the Pac-10 is big,”
sophomore forward Luke Jackson
said. “We need to go up there and take
care of business.”
Jackson had a triple-double against
Washington last season at the Bank of
America Pavilion and was the Pac-lO’s
reigning triple-double holder until Ari
zona’s Luke Walton got one against
USC on Jan. 17.
.Turn to Men’s, page 10