UO looks
to end drought
Oregon hopes to end athnee
game losing streak against
Portland at Mac Court tonight
Women’s basketball
Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
It’s home sweet home for the
Ducks, as the Oregon women’s bas
ketball team gets to return to the
gentle confines and shiny hardwood
of McArthur Court.
It will be homecoming much
needed, after the Ducks lost three
straight away from Eugene, includ
ing one at Wisconsin-Green Bay and
two at the Paradise Jam.
The Ducks host Portland tonight
at 7 p.m. in hopes of improving their
1-3 start. Luckily for Oregon, the Pi
lots must defy history as they have
never won in Eugene in 10 tries.
And overall, Oregon leads the series
16-2 with its regional rival. Yet, the
past still haunts the Ducks, as they fell
77-73 to the Pilots in their last meet
ing at the Chiles Center in 2001.
Oregon shot a season-low 38 per
cent from the floor last year and
found itself trailing 66-56 with 3:30
left in the game. Even with a late
game 17-8 run, which cut the Pilot
lead to 74-73 with just 21 seconds
left, Oregon couldn’t finish the
comeback.
“One of our problems last year
was we went up there thinking
the outcome was determined,”
Oregon head coach Bev Smith said.
“We have some not-so-great histo
ry with them and we hope to
change that.”
Now-junior forward Cathrine
Kraayeveld helped Oregon barely
win the battle of the boards that
night with a team-high 10 rebounds.
Sophomore Kedzie Gunderson was
also a spark, as she scored eight
points and pulled down three re
bounds in 17 minutes of floor time.
Oregon needs to change more
than just the past. The Ducks have
scored less than 50 points in two
straight games for the first time
since 1976.
Rebounding has also caused is
sues for the Ducks, and if Oregon
can’t win the battle of the boards, it
usually struggles to win the game.
“If we just settle down and be ag
gressive and play hard without hesi
tation, then the process will deter
mine the outcome,” Smith said. “We
just need to get back to being aggres
Adam Amato Emerald
Sophomore Kedzie Gunderson goes head-over-heels for a loose ball against
Gonzaga earlierthis season. Gunderson and the Ducks face Portland tonight.
sive offensively, and solve the defen
sive rebounding part of it, we will be
right back on track.”
And with the Ducks failing lately
on their own expectations, getting
back on the right track is exactly
what Oregon needs. Oregon has not
started 1-3 since the 1985-86 season
and has not lost four in a row since a
five-game drought last February.
But the adversity hasn’t fazed
the Ducks.
“It’s important for us to get a win
after losing three games,”
Kraayeveld said. “We just need to
have fun and go out there and play
the way we know we can play and
then we’ll be fine.”
Oregon will enter tonight’s game
in search of that second win, but
without star point guard Shaquala
Williams. It was announced Wednes
day that Williams has been suspend
ed indefinitely from the team be
cause of disciplinary reasons.
Smith said she wasn’t worried
about Williams’ suspension, despite
the team’s losing streak.
“This is not about wins and losses,
this is about standards of behavior
that we have on our team and re
gardless of if we won or we lost, they
are decisions 1 have to make as a
head coach,” Smith said. “It’s just
something that had to be done, re
gardless of the situation at hand, and
now we go forward.”
Contact the sports reporter
at jessethomas@dailyemerald.com.
Oregon
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Invites the community to our third annual
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