Please Call Hal
for an appointment
The Answer Fop Hair
AT THE HIITON
687-9379
| 66 East 6th Avenue
ASU jumps into second place
■ With three weeks remaining,
Arizona State moves out of the
pack and into the second spot
in the Pacific-10 Conference
By Hank Hager
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Pacific-10 Conference
women’s basketball season has
been interesting, but now it begins
to heat up.
The Pac-10 race for first has be
longed to one
team — Stanford.
However, the bat
tle for second is
still up for grabs.
Two weeks ago,
the battle consist
ed of four teams
— Arizona State, Oregon, Oregon
State and USC.
Now, those battle lines need
to be redrawn.
For the first time in a while, one
team is holding the second spot,
and, with some luck, looks to hold
it until the inaugural conference
tournament comes calling.
Arizona State (18-6 overall, 9-4
Pac-10) holds a half game lead over
Washington (13-8,8-4) after knock
ing off Oregon State Saturday in
Tempe, Ariz. The Beavers (11-11,8
5) drop to tie for fourth with USC.
In a season that has seen so many
twists and turns, every loss could be
the back-breaker for a particular
squad. Case in point: Oregon (12-10,
7-6), which only two weeks ago was
one of the conference’s crown jew
els, Is now a game behind Oregon
State and falling fast.
The squad they fell to, however,
is looking to the top of the confer
ence with hope in their hearts.
WILDER
THAN
A
PANTY
RAID
Arizona is tied for sixth with
Oregon. But the Wildcats will play
conference punching bags UCLA
and Washington State in the next
couple of weeks. With five games
left, Arizona is hoping to just make
it high enough in the race to con
tend in the Pac-10 Tournament.
“Every game is important, and I
was proud of our effort and the
way we came back from the loss
the other night (against Oregon
State),” Arizona head coach Joan
Bonvicini said after her team’s vic
tory over Oregon. “The bottom line
is to win our games. There is a lot of
basketball left. We have had a lot of
things happen this season, but it is
a matter of how you handle it and
how you respond to adversity. ”
Wildcats strong from the line
Speaking of the Wildcats, Satur
day’s game against Oregon may
have provided the boost they need
for the rest of the season.
Certainly shooting 33-of-43 from
the charity stripe will help any team,
especially when 17 of those shots
come in the final four minutes.
In fact, Arizona senior Elizabeth
Pickney was better from the line
than from the field against Oregon
Saturday. She was only 2-of-13
from the field, but was on fire from
the line, going 15-of-16.
“We are a good free throw
shooting team, and our free
throws were very important in
our victory,” Arizona freshman
Dee-Dee Wheeler said.
Pickney’s 15 successful free
throws were two more than Ore
gon attempted the entire game.
Arizona visits Washington on
Thursday and will get a breather on
Saturday when they visit the Palouse
and Washington State in Pullman.
Premier Travel
I'O Authorized Agency!
E-mail: faresfo Iuv2travel.com
1011 Harlow
747-0909
ode classifieds • 346-4343
The Wildcats are 2-0 against the
Washington schools this season.
To make matters worse for the
rest of the conference, the Wildcats
are 9-4 this season when scoring
more than 70 points in a game.
Arizona is showing signs of im
provement at the right time and are
looking to be a force down the stretch.
The Wildcats are 4-1 against
their five remaining opponents,
with their only loss to in-state ri
val Arizona State.
“Our post players really are
coming together,” Bonvicini said.
“Dee-Dee Wheeler continues to
amaze me as a freshman. We need
ed our guards to play defense and
rebound, and Amy Grzyb did a
great job getting eight rebounds. ”
Movin’ on up
There’s a new No. 2 in women’s
basketball.
Stanford, which has previous
ly held the third spot in the As
sociated Press poll, moved to No.
2, 73 points behind unanimous
No. 1 Connecticut.
The Cardinal, who just swept a
weekend series from California,
were last ranked that high when
the squad was No. 1 in the coun
try for the first six weeks of the
1996-97 season.
That year’s squad finished the
season ranked No. 3 in the AP poll
with a record of 34-2, losing in the
semifinals of the NCAA Tourna
ment to Old Dominion.
No other Pac-10 team is ranked
this week, although Arizona State
received 73 votes.
E-mail reporter Hank Hager at
hankhager@dailyemerald.com.
OREGON DALY EffiiALD
Your source
for exclusive
on-line polls
www.da i I y em e ra Id xo m
www.dailyemerald.com
Sports briefs
Golfers tied for 10th place
The Oregon men’s golf team is
tied for 10th place after one round at
the Ping Arizona Intercollegiate at
The Raven golf course in Tucson,
Ariz. — a par 71,6,776-yard facility.
The second round was suspended
due to darkness Monday evening,
with two-thirds of the field still need
ing to finish the round. Play will re
sume this morning, with the final
round beginning afterward.
Of the 20 teams, the Ducks shot a
six-over 290 to share 10th place
with Washington, Fresno State and
UC-Irvine. No. 7 Southern Califor
nia (three-under 281) has a one
stroke lead over New Mexico.
Aaron Byers led the Ducks in the
first round as he shot a one-under
70 to tie for 11th individually. Chris
Heniff finished second among the
Ducks with a 72 in round one.
—from staff and wire reports
Softball begins season
with three wins
After losing to Oregon in its sea
son opener at the B&G Properties
Tournament on Friday, the Texas
Tech Red Raiders made up for it on
Sunday morning. Behind a strong
pitching effort by Kristina Blair,
Texas Tech defeated the Ducks 9-1
to improve to 3-2 on the season.
The Ducks are 3-2 after defeating
Texas A&M Corpus Christi and No.
19 Southwest Texas on Saturday.
“I thought we just had some de
fensive let downs that we weren’t
able to overcome,” Oregon head
coach Brent Rincon said. “But the
girls never stopped playing hard,
and that was good to see.”
Oregon, which had 26 hits in its
two games Saturday, managed just
four hits against the Red Raiders on
Sunday, who scored nine runs on
eight hits. Texas Tech scored three
runs in the first inning, added two
in the second and four in the third,
and Oregon’s one run came in the
bottom of the first inning. Junior
Lynsey Haij scored on an RBI single
by catcher Jenn Poore to get the
Ducks on the board.
Senior Connie McMurren pitched 2
2/3 innings to take the loss for the
Ducks. Freshman Lindsey Kontra re
lieved McMurren in the third inning.
Offensively, Andrea Vidlund,
Poore, Ashley Richards and Kristi Hall
each produced a hit for the Ducks,
who return to tournament action at the
UNLV Tournament on Friday.
— from staff and wire reports
Follow Your Dream...
... Graduate Studies in San Francisco
Graduate Programs
at the University of San Francisco
Master's Programs offered by the College of Arts & Sciences:
Asia Pacific Studies — Biology — Chemistry — Computer Science — Economics
Environmental Management — Sports & Fitness Management — Theology — Writing (MFA)
Contact us for an information packet and application:
415-422-GRAD www.usfca.edu/gradprograms