Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, March 06, 2002, Page 6, Image 6

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    Sports brief
Oregon golfers sit in 11th
After shooting a career-low 73 in
the first round of the Spartan Invita
tional on Monday, freshman Johnna
Nealy continues to lead Oregon with
a 73-76-149 after the second day at
the 5,938-yard, par-72 Corral de
Tierra Country Club in Safinas, Calif.
Nealy stands tied for 21st while
senior Kathy Cho shot 75-77-152 to
tie for 31st. Freshman Jess Carlyon
improved her first round score of 84
by eight strokes to close out the sec
ond round tied for 55th (84-76-160).
Oregon moved up one place to
11th out of 16 teams after carding a
308-310-618 composite.
California maintained a one shot
lead over New Mexico State by
shooting 300 for a two-day total of
589 to lead the 21st Annual Spartan
Invitational. Washington shot 3-un
der and captured the second day
low round of 285. The Huskies and
i
Pepperdine stand tied for third place.
The final round tees off at 8
a.m. Wednesday.
—from staff and wire reports
North Dakota falls to SDSU
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (U-WIRE)
— As they have all year, the North
Dakota men's basketball team strug
gled on the road, losing to South
Dakota State in the Wells Fargo
North Central Conference Finals on
SDSU’s home court.
North Dakota looked strong the
previous night in a 68-53 route of
Nebraska-Omaha, which ad
vanced them into Saturday’s game
with the Jackrabbits.
The team trailed by as many as 12
points on two different occasions dur
ing the first half, before the they went
on an 8-0 run sparked by a Jerome
Beasley dunk. However, Omaha re
mained consistent and held a five
point 29-24 lead entering halftime.
—Matt Schill (U. North Dakota)
learn how to
KICK BUTT
the real uuay!
University of Oregon Club Sports
Taekwondo Club
invites you to participate...
SELF-DEFENSE
WORKSHOP
Saturday, March 9, 2002
Gerlinger 220 - 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Learn basic self-defense tips, tools and techniques
Expert instruction for real-life situations
Gain confidence & practical self-defense knowledge
$5 at the door
Contact Julie Lauderbaugh at 338-4843 or Club Sports at 346-3733 for more information.
The University of Oregon Taekwondo Club is presenting this workshop in association with:
ft
faej
THE OREGON HUMANITIES CENTER PRESENTS
The 2001-2 Robert D. Clark Lecture in the Humanities
THE IMPROBABLE LION
AND THE POST-COMMUNIST BEAR:
Man-eating Predators in a Crowded World
BY PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR
David Quammen
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6,8:00 p.m.
Alumni Lounge, Gerlinger Hall
This lecture is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a reception and book
signing and sale. For more information, or for disability accommodations (which must
be arranged by February 27), please call (541) 346-3934.
UNIVERSITY of OREGON
Adam Amato Emerald
Oregon’s Alyssa Fredrick (right) battles Brittney Hawks of Washington State on Friday in the first game of the Pac-10 Tournament.
Pac-10 Tournament fulfills
expectations at Mac Court
■Despite a shaky start on
Friday, large crowds and good
basketball greet the inaugural
Pac-10 women’s tournament
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
The weekend seemed destined
for disaster.
The Oregon basketball team was
greeted with a familiar cheer from
its McArthur Court fans as the
Ducks hit the hardwood Friday to
face Washington State in the first
game of the firsf Pacific-10 Confer
ence women’s tournament. Not
much else went right that night.
First, there was the Pit’s pesky
scoreboard, which on more than
one occasion this season has
flashed and moaned out of order.
The scoreboard had to be reset
twice in Oregon’s first two games of
the tournament.
Then there was nearly an early
exit by the host team, which would
have surely diminished attendance
for the rest of the weekend. Wash
ington State, the first team to lose
every Pac-10 game in one season,
trailed the by just one point late in
the first half before the Ducks
pulled away late.
To cap it off, the fire alarm went off
in the middle of the game. The
Cougars immediately tried to leave
the building, but were escorted back
to the court after the false alarm.
Me ARTHUR COURT
It’s safe to say, though, that after
the shaky start, everything seemed
to go off without a hitch at Mac
Court over the four-day event — the
scoreboard stopped whining, the
alarms were
held in check
and the seats
were occupied
(most of them,
anyway).
“We expect
ed great
crowds and
great basketball in a wonderful en
vironment. We got all that and
much more,” said Christine Hoyles,
the Pac-10 assistant commissioner
who organized the tournament. “Our
biggest challenge next year will be to
top this.”
The tournament averaged almost
5,500 fans per session during the
weekend, with a crowd of 5,842
greeting the Ducks on Friday. Ore
gon led the Pac-10 this season in at
tendance with more than 4,600 fans
per game.
“We don’t have to apologize for
having the tournament here,” Oregon
head coach Bev Smith said. “The at
mosphere was unbelievable. What
you saw (from the crowd) was what’s
special about Mac Court and the peo
ple of Eugene.”
A large crowd also showed up
Monday night for the tournament’s
championship game, which pitted
Stanford, the regular season Pac-10
champ, against No. 3-seed Arizona
State. The Sun Devils stunned
Stanford, ranked No. 2 in the coun
try, 70-63, in one of the more enter
taining games of the year.
Despite the loss, Stanford head
coach Tara VanDerveer said the Pac
10 Tournament provides teams with
good experience for the Big Dance.
“For us, it’s been a really good
weekend,” VanDerveer said. “The
intensity that people saw is great.
This tournament is great prepara
tion for the NCAA Tournament.”
Next year, the Pac-10 Tourna
ment will be held at a neutral site
— the Compaq Center in San Jose,
Calif., beginning March 7, 2003.
While the Pac-10 has only commit
ted to a one-year deal with the
Compaq Center, Hoyles said it is
likely that the tournament could be
in San Jose for a few more years.
“We would very much like to ex
tend that contract,” Hoyles said.
The Pac-10 will have to pay to play
at the Compaq Center, but there are
trade-offs with space issues for the 10
teams and the media.
“I don’t think it will be that much
more expensive,” Hoyles said.
“The general cost of doing business
should be the same” as having it on
a campus site.
Just as long as they keep a close
eye on the scoreboard and the fire
alarms next year.
E-mail sports editor Adam Jude
at adamjude@dailyemerald.com.
Wrestling
continued from page 5
at 157 pounds but lost twice, in
cluding a first round defeat at the
hands of UC Davis’ Jeremiah
Jarvis, who advanced all the way
to the championship round
against Overstake.
Around the Pac-10
Arizona State’s Eric Larkin, who
defeated Watson 11-1 in the finals
of the 141-pound bracket, was
named the tournament’s MVP. The
conference title was Larkin’s third
of his career and has already been
named an All-American twice. The
Arizona State junior was 24-4 over
all this season and ranked No. 2 in
the nation going into the Pac-lOs.
Cal State-Bakersfield’s Thomas
Juarez (149) received the Gorrarian
Award, which is given to the
wrestler with the most falls in the
least time. Juarez recorded two pins
in a total time of 6:14. In the third
place match, Juarez defeated Hunt,
2-1, placing the two wrestlers ex
actly where they were seeded —
No. 3 Juarez and No. 4 Hunt.
Boise State’s 123 points (7.5
ahead of Oregon) gave the Broncos
their second Pac-10 title in three
years. Their outstanding perform
ance during the conference tourna
ment came as a surprise to many of
the other coaches around the Pac-10.
“I would not say this year’s
championship is sweeter than the
first one,” Boise State head coach
Mike Young said. “But this one was
extremely gratifying because most
of the coaches in the league did not
expect us to finish in the top three.”
Finishing behind the Ducks’
115.5 points were Arizona State
(103.5) , Oregon State (83.5), Cal
Poly (73.5), UC Davis (56), Stanford
(50.5) , CS Bakersfield (43), Portland
State (31.5) and CS Fullerton (29).
E-mail sports reporter Chris Cabot
at chriscabot@dailyemerald.com.