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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 2002)
Sports Editor Peter Hockaday peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com Monday, October 14,2002 -Oregon Daily Emerald Sports Best bet MLB Playoffs: St. Louis at San Francisco 5:20 p.m., FOX Jeremy Forrest Emerald Oregon's Onterrio Smith eludes the tacklers of UCIA Smith had his sixth-straight 100-yard rushing game against the Bruins. Shootin ’ the Rose Bowl lights out PASADENA, Calif. — A scruffy man walks into a saloon. “Bartender, a bour bon, please,” the man says. “Sure thing, partner.” They sit in silence for a while as the man stares at his drink, i There is nobody else in the establishment. “Say, anything wrong, partner?” the bartender asks after Peter Hockaday Two minutes for crosschecking he can’t take any more silence. “It’s this Wild V/est, my good man. It’s got me down.” Another pause. “Why’s that?” the bartender asks. “Well, there was another shoot-out Saturday, down here at that dang nabbed Rose Bowl. And nobody even took notice. Back East, they don’t care about all the shoot-outs we have out here. Dang.” “Yeah, I guess,” the bartender nods, hoping the conversation ends there. “I mean, those kids were trading shots like they were cattle rustlers sitting around a camp fire with their flasks. They were shooting quicker than Billy the Kid, big long shots that went a great many miles but still found their mark.” “Yep, it’s true.” “Then there was that big shoot-out up in Husky territory. That Jason Johnson kid gave it his best, you know, but he fell in the end.” The two sit in silence for a while. “Then there was that shoot-out across the way from the Rose Bowl, right down there in Los Angeles. I heard the Cali fornia team got robbed in that one. They Turn to Hockaday, page 9 Bruins kick themselves as UO wins For the second straight season, the Ducks pull off a one-point win thanks to another UCLA misfire Adam Jude Senior Sports Reporter The Ducks, simply, are kicking everything and every body. The UCLA Bruins are only kicking themselves. For the second straight season, the fate of the Ore gon-UCLA match-up was decided, in the end, by the right foot of Chris Griffith. In 2001, the Bruins’ place kicker was short and wide right on a 50-yard attempt as the clock expired, giving the Ducks a 21-20 win. On Saturday, Griffith had the distance on a 46-yard attempt, but hooked it left, sending the No. 6 Ducks (6 0 overall, 2-0 Pacific-10 Conference) home with their third-straight win over the Bruins (4-2,1-1). Like last season, UCLA head coach Bob Toledo played conservatively in the Bruins’ final drive to give his kicker a chance to win the game. But like last season, Griffith could not find the uprights. “I’m disappointed in several aspects of the kicking game,” Toledo told reporters after the game. What Griffith couidn t do, Oregon s Jared Siegel did — at a record-set ting pace. Siegel, Oregon’s sophomore placekicker, booted a school-record 59-yard field goal, tying the Pac-10 record for a conference game, as time expired in the first half. “Fifty-nine yards is the very end of my range,” Siegel said. “It took a while for the coach to decide to give it a go. I just kept my mechanics in line, and it went.” Heading into Saturday’s match-up in Pasadena, Siegel was ranked No. 2 in the country in field-goal efficiency. He has converted 12-of-13 attempts this season. “We needed a little boost, and I thought that it would help fire us up for the second half,” Bellotti said of Siegel’s boot, which sent the Ducks into the locker Turn to Kicking, page 9 "We needed a little boost, and I thought that it would help fire us up for the second half" Mike Bellotti Head football coach Ducks hope to ‘WNIT’ all again Just three weeks remain before the women’s basketball Ducks take the court forthe first time this year Women’s Basketball Hank Hager Sports Reporter The last time you saw them, in April, they were celebrating their WNIT Cham pionship at McArthur Court. So for the nine returning letterwinners on the Oregon women’s basketball team, Friday’s media day was a reunion of sorts. Gone were graduates Jamie Craighead, Alyssa Fredrick, Edniesha Curry and Ndidi Unaka. But back to visit in their first official gathering of the year — at least for outsiders to the program — were senior starters Shaquala Williams and Alissa Edwards, as well as junior Cathrine Kraayeveld and sophomore An drea Bills. And although the team has been prac ticing for almost two months, Friday was their first chance to strut their stuff and talk up what they plan to do this season. “I’m looking forward to having fun and winning as many games as we can,” Williams said. “I think we had a great ending to last year in winning the WNIT, but our goals are a lot bigger this year, and we can achieve a lot more.” If last season’s 22-13 campaign was a rollercoaster — with plenty of ups and downs, dips and turns — then this sea son is shaping up to be a smooth ride. Gone is the pressure of extending an eight-year NCAA Tournament streak, though the Ducks made a case that it should have been nine straight by win ning five straight in the WNIT. Also gone is the Jody Runge situation, a controver sial topic last season that was often the focus of the media after games and prac tices. But, most importantly, the Ducks’ core group of players has had a year to adjust to head coach Bev Smith’s system and a chance to test its intricacies. “I think it was hard sometimes,” Kraayeveld said of last season. “We ex pected to win in certain games, and we ended up just not playing well when we lost. I think that it hurt our confidence a little bit. I think we have a load of talent on this team, and we should be able to string a couple more games together this season. “We just have to have the right mind set coming into each game.” Kraayeveld was the MVP of the WNIT — coming through with the game-win ning shot against Houston for the cham pionship — and will need help in the frontcourt, as the group is young and in experienced. Along with Kraayeveld, the Ducks list five full-time forwards on their roster — including Bills, who is shaping up to be a focus of the Oregon offense. Of those five, only Bills and Kraayeveld have seen sig nificant action. Enter freshman Carolyn Ganes. The 6 foot-3 center from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan is an imposing figure and must grow up quickly to lend support off the bench. “I’m a little bit nervous, just because you can’t help but not be a little bit, but I think it will be a lot of fun, and I’ll just go in there and play hard and see what hap pens,” Ganes said when asked about her transition to the college game. Coupled with Yadili Okwumabua, an other freshman from Canada, Ganes’ ad justment will be key this season. “I think the coaches are aware that they’re freshmen and don’t know as much, but they did play with Bev and Turn to Basketball, page 8 Adam Amato Emerald The Oregon women's basketball team wants to be NCAA-bound.
