Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@daiIyemerald.com
Monday, January 6,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Best bet
NCAA basketball:
Notre Dame at Pittsburgh
4 p.mv ESPN
Men split Pac-10 openers
The Ducks lose to No. 4 Arizona,
turn around to beat Arizona State
in their first conference games
Men’s basketball
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
To borrow a metaphor from football,
the Oregon men split the Pac-10 up
rights in the opening weekend of con
ference play.
But enough about football.
The Oregon men’s basketball squad
capped off its winter break by blowing
out Arizona State, 94-73, at McArthur
Court, two days after it lost a hard-fought
contest to No. 4 Arizona, 81-72. After a
9-1 preseason, the Ducks are now 10-2
and headed feet-first into the Pacific-10
Conference season.
“We needed to go through a Pac-10
weekend at home, because it has forced
us to grow,” Oregon head coach Ernie
Kent said. “We had some adversity that
we had to deal with, we fought through
the adversity.”
Over the Pac-10 opening weekend, Ore
gon played 57 minutes of stellar basketball,
but it was the other 23 minutes that cost
the Ducks one game and had them reeling
at halftime of the other contest.
Oregon led Arizona by 10 points and
11 points at separate junctures in the
second half of Thursday’s contest. But
the Wildcats whittled away at the Ducks
and took their first lead of the second
frame at 68-67 with 3:50 remaining.
“We lost our composure,” Oregon
guard Andre Joseph said.
With the game tied at 70 and 2:13 re
maining, Arizona seniors Jason Gardner
and Rick Anderson hit back-to-back
three-pointers to put the Wildcats up by
six points with 1:21 left. The sellout
crowd of 9,087 sat in stunned silence and
the Ducks never recovered.
“They had a lot of energy out there,
that’s why they were the preseason
No. 1,” Kent said.
The Ducks were out-rebounded by the
Wildcats 50-28 on Thursday, leading
Kent to compare the game to Oregon’s
loss to Kansas in the Elite Eight of the
NCAA Tournament last season.
Oregon carried its lethargy into Satur
day’s contest with Arizona State. In front
of another sellout Mac Court crowd, the
. —■■win I——■mmmmmmimu——■mini— —i _ WlirMWi//'MP|
Adam Amato Emerald
Luke Ridnour (13) goes up for two of his 24 points Saturday against Arizona State.
Ducks started slow and went into half
time losing 39-33.
“We were yelling in the locker room,
we knew we had to pick it up,” said
Oregon forward Jay Anderson, who had
a career-high 10 points in the game.
In the second half, buoyed by strong
performances from Anderson and Matt
Short off the bench, the Ducks did pick
it up, big time. They shot 80.8 percent
in the second frame, at one point going
on a 21-0 run to blow out the Sun Dev
ils. Oregon was led in the second half by
Luke Ridnour, who had a poor game
against Arizona, turning the ball over
eight times and scoring 16 points.
But Ridnour made up for it with a 24
point, 7-assist performance against
Arizona State.
“Rid just kind of took over the game
with about 10 minutes left,” Anderson
said. “He was driving the lane, and no
body could stop him.”
Turn to Men's, page 12
Women drop
to 5-8 with two
losses in ’Zona
Oregon has been struggling without All
American candidate Cathrine Kraayeveld
Women’s basketball
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
What a roller-coaster season of ups and downs it has become
for head coach Bev Smith and the women’s basketball team.
After a week in the desert, there’s been plenty more
downs than ups.
The Ducks, down to nine active players due to injuries
and suspensions, fell to Arizona on Thursday, 96-65, in
Tucson, then couldn’t hold off the potent Arizona State
offense and lost to the Sun Devils, 78-63, Saturday at
Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe.
Oregon failed to hold the lead once in either game, as
the Ducks (5-8 overall, 1-3 Pacific-10 Conference) were
mismatched on the boards by both schools.
Against the Sun Devils, sophomore Brandi Davis had 18
points and sophomore Andrea Bills continued her hot
hand with 13 while pulling in a team-high nine rebounds.
Still, it wasn’t enough.
Arizona State (10-3, 2-2) got solid production from Ky
lan Loney, who hit five 3-pointei s and led the team with
21 points. Jill Noe also had a big night, hitting on 10-of-12
free throws en route to 18 points.
“Our effort, work ethic and aggressiveness were much
better today,” Smith said. “Our players left the floor dead
dog tired. It hurts to lose a game like this because of how
hard we played.”
The Ducks were outrebounded, 41-31, and noticeably
missed the presence of junior Cathrine Kraayeveld, who
missed her fourth-straight game with a staph infection in
her right knee. Kraayeveld is still expected to miss at least
five more weeks.
Still, the Ducks figured they put on a better showing
than the 31-point blowout victory by Arizona Thursday.
“We all got a little better today,” Davis said. “Sometimes
you give your all and it doesn't go the way you want it to.”
Sophomore Kedzie Gunderson, ever-proving she is de
serving of the team’s early season courage award, posted a
career-high 12 points. The forward suffered a broken nose
against Montana Dec. 19, and has been wearing a face
guard to protect it.
The win was Arizona State head coach Charli Turner
Thorne’s 100th while with the Sun Devils.
Against Arizona, all Smith could do was praise No. 20
Arizona’s (9-3,3-1) effort.
The Wildcats shot 53 percent from the field on the
night and jumped out to a 43-29 halftime lead.
Turn to Women's, page 16
Ducks fall to Wolverines;
Overstake, Webster win
Tony Overstake and Shane Webster both
improve to 2-1 in dual meets this season
Wrestling
Mindi Rice
Freelance Sports Reporter
When visiting the No. 7 team in the country, an
unranked team realizes it needs to put up a fight to
keep the meet close, let alone win.
Oregon just didn’t want to lose as badly as they did.
Giving up two falls, two major decisions and one
forfeit, the Oregon wrestling squad lost 35-6 at No. 7
Michigan on Saturday.
The falls, major decisions and forfeit gave Michi
gan 26 of its 35 points. The other nine were earned
on one-point and two-point decisions.
Oregon earned its six points on two decisions. Se
nior Tony Overstake earned an 8-7 victory over Je
remiah Tobias at 149. Overstake was ranked No. 20
in the 149 weight class going into Saturday’s meet.
Tobias took the early lead in the matchup with a
quick takedown in the first period. Overstake re
sponded with an escape and a takedown to take a
one-point advantage heading into the second period.
During the second frame, Tobias had a take
down and a two-point fall, but Overstake matched
him with a reversal and takedown, keeping the
one-point lead. A scoreless third period kept the
match at 8-7.
Sophomore Shane Webster, ranked No. 10 in his
weight class, earned Oregon’s other decision. Web
ster defeated R.J. Boudro, 7-3.
Webster jumped ahead early, with two take
downs in the first period. Adding another in the
third, Webster allowed Boudro only three points
on three escapes.
“We have to eliminate mistakes,” head coach
• * * * «* Turn to Wrestling, page 13
Jeremy Forrest Emerald
* Tony Overstake (top), seen here against Oregon State, was one of two Ducks to win at Michigan.