Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Friday, November 22,2002
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Best bet
NCAA Basketball:
UNC Greensboro at Kansas
4 p.m., ESPN2
Ducks look
to tear apart
the Bulldogs
Oregon enters its season opener against Gonzaga
at home with confidence and history on its side
Women’s basketball
Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
In the past 25 years, the Oregon’s women basketball team
has only lost one season opener at home.
Gonzaga has that to stress about as it enters McArthur
Court at 5 p.m., and the Bulldogs have never beat the Ducks.
In fact, they have never even come close.
A 14-point loss in 1990 is as close as it has gotten for the
Bulldogs. The last meeting of these two teams was 1996, where
Oregon dominated in a 52-33 victory on the road.
But the Ducks said tonight’s game is just another chance to
throw 100 points on the board.
“We approach it like any other game played here in Mac
Court, and we defend this with everything that we have,” Ore
gon head coach Bev Smith said. “Any game we play at home
has to be something that we all really want to do, feel that we
are capable of doing, and demand that we do it.”
Oregon enters its season opener after gliding through its first
exhibition games with ease. The Ducks dominated their first
two opponents by a combined score of 214-97.
Gonzaga has been known over the past few years as a pow
erhouse killer and has played the Cinderella part well, but it
doesn’t seem to faze Oregon in the slightest.
“It’s not really important to us what they bring,” senior
Shaquala Williams said. “We have our standards, and what we
want to do every game, and if we do those things, we feel like it
doesn’t matter what they do.”
“We want to establish Mac Court as a place that nobody
wants to come to,” said the star senior, who was named as one
of the top five point guards in the nation by ESPN.com. “And
the best way to do that is to win.”
The Ducks have been satisfied with their offensive flow this
season and feel they are ahead of where they were at the end
of last season.
Oregon has been in practice all week and likes the way
things look. The Ducks have put a lot of focus on defense, re
bounding and ball movement.
The Ducks focus on three main aspects every game, which
Turn to Women's, page 6A
Cougar offense overpowers UO
The Ducks start fast but wane
as Washington State hands
Oregon its 16th Pac-10 loss
as the season comes to a close
Volleyball
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
Entering Thursday night’s volleyball
mateh at McArthur Court, Washington
State had been a thorn in Oregon’s
side, defeating the Ducks in 23 straight,
dating back to 1991.
Make it 24 straight.
The 13th-ranked Cougars, led by
Chelsie Schafer’s 13 kills, defeated Ore
gon in three straight (30-27, 30-23, 30
18) in front of 765 at The Pit.
The loss sends Oregon (11-20 over
all, 1-16 Pacific-10 Conference) into
tonight’s match against Washington
looking for its second conference victo
ry, a win that has eluded the Ducks
since its only conference victory over
Oregon State on Nov. 1.
“We started off really good — our of
fense was flowing and was going
through everything so well, but we
kind of let up toward the end,” fresh
man Jodi Bell said about the loss.
Freshman Dariam Acevedo led Ore
gon with 13 kills, while senior Lindsay
Closs had eight. Her seventh kill of the
match, coming in the third game, put
her at the 400-kill mark for the season.
“She’s had a great year,” Oregon
head coach Carl Ferreira said about
Closs. “She’s had a brilliant offensive
season. I hope the Pac-10 recognizes
her. She’s very deserving of that caliber
of an honor, and I hope she gets it.”
Overall, Washington State did not
dominate the Ducks as the team’s
record before the match would suggest.
However, Oregon’s inability to sustain
point-scoring runs hindered it in the
end. The Cougars dominated offensive
ly, leading the Ducks’ Northwest foes to
an easy win in the end.
The Cougars had average games to
begin the match, hitting for a .261 per
centage in Game 1 and .182 in Game 2.
Adam Amato Emerald
Amanda Porter (3) watches as Washington State's Victoria Prince (16) records a block assist.
But in Game 3, they broke out, posting
a .531 attack percentage on the
strength of 18 kills and just one error.
The Ducks, on the other hand, hit for a
team-high .222 in Game 1, and a low of
.019 in Game 2.
Overall, the Ducks finished the
night at .137.
“I thought we started out pretty
well,” Ferreira said. “We knew going
in that we had to be efficient in our
execution. Washington State does
not beat itself.”
Ferreira credited Oregon’s poor
passing attempts and an inability to
score during side-outs for the Ducks’
lag offensively in Game 2 and part of
Game 3.
Down 2-0 entering Game 3, the
Ducks saw Washington State pull out
to an 18-6 lead, highlighted by a seven
point run midway through the set.
Oregon, however, answered back,
pulling to within seven points, 22-15,
before allowing the Cougars to score
eight of the match’s 11 points.
Oregon now must turn its attention to
Washington, an unranked opponent that
has defeated the Ducks in three of the last
four matches the teams have played.
It will be senior night as three Ducks —
Gloss, Sydney Chute and Amanda Porter
— will wave good-bye to the McArthur
Turn to Volleyball, page 6A
James Davis (1) and the Ducks said they will work on their defense in the
season opener Sunday night against Grambling State.
Men’s basketball opens season
by honoring 2001-02 Pac-10 title
The Ducks will raise their
championship banner Sunday
night at McArthur Court
Men’s basketball
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
As its season opens Sunday night at
McArthur Court, the Oregon men’s
basketball team will hoist a banner
commemorating the Ducks’ 2001-02
Pacific-10 Conference Championship.
But once they step on the court
against Grambling State, the Ducks’
thoughts will turn to the 2002-03 con
ference crown.
“We want to let people know we’re for
real,” point guard Luke Ridnour said.
Oregon’s title defense starts in the
second game of the annual John
Thompson Challenge on Sunday at
5:30 p.m. The first game of the Chal
lenge pits California-State Northridge
against Jacksonville at 3 p.m. at Mac
Court. The winners of both games will
face each other in the championship
game Monday at 7:30 p.m. after the
consolation game at 5 p.m.
The Ducks should have no trouble
making that championship game.
Grambling State is known more for its
band and its participation in the an
nual “Bayou Classic” than its basket
ball team. The Tigers, who play in the
Southwestern Athletic Conference,
finished 9-19 overall last season and
seventh in the SWAC.
Still, Oregon will take the team se
riously, the Ducks said. The Tigers
have the SWAC’s preseason player of
the year in Paul Haynes.
“I looked at their roster; they’re not
very tall,” Oregon forward Ian Cross
white said. “I think it’s going to be a
very fast game.”
The Ducks would love a fast game.
Their up-tempo offense led the
Pac-10 with more than 80 points per
game last season, and the Ducks
scored 135 and 132 points in their
two exhibition contests.
Most of all, the Ducks said their sea
son-opener will give them a chance to
work on details and defense.
“The score of the game will take
care of itself,” Oregon head coach
Ernie Kent said. “We just need to be
able to come out and play defense.”
“There’s a lot of little things to work
on to get ready for big-time games lat
er on,” Luke Jackson said.
Those big-time games are looming
right around the comer. One big-time
game, anyway.
Oregon and Kansas, Dec. 7.
The Ducks have only four games
before their contest with the Jay
hawks, a rematch of last season’s Elite
Eight contest. The teams will play at a
neutral court that will be far from
neutral — the Rose Garden, in the
Turn to Men's, page 6A