Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Friday, January 31,2003
I
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Best bet
NCAA men's basketball:
California at Arizona
4 p.m. Saturday, Fox Sports
Oregon shines in win over Sun Devils
The Duck women start the second
half of the season on a sweet note
Women’s basketball
Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
Through all craziness and the loose
balls, the Oregon women’s basketball
team was determined to not let any
thing stand in its way between the
Ducks a ‘w.’
Oregon turned the tables Thursday
night and conquered Arizona State en
route to a solid victory, 68-52.
It wasn’t a high-scoring affair, but a
game of defense where every loose ball
meant diving to the floor, and no re
bound went uncontested.
Oregon established its defensive
presence from the start as it jumped out
to a 23-9 lead for the majority of the
first half. The Ducks held the Sun Dev
ils to under double-digit points for more
than 14 minutes of play.
“Right from the get go tonight we
worked on just allowing them one shot
at the hoop,” Oregon head coach Bev
Smith said. “There was some heart
shown tonight that we are just ready to
turn the page and get after it and just
finish plays.”
Oregon turned things around in more
ways than one as the Ducks won the re
bound margin, 38-32. Prior to tonight’s
match-up, Oregpn had lost the battle of
the boards in nine of its last 10 games.
Along with a solid night from the free
throw line — Oregon shot more than 80
percent — the Ducks caused the Sun
Devils to turn over the ball 23 times.
“It’s one of the best defensive efforts
combined with rebounding that we’ve
had for a long, long time,” Smith said.
Arizona State would find some light
in the first 20 minutes and get as close
as seven points, but once Oregon got
the lead, it didn’t give it up. The Ducks
headed to the locker room after a solid
first half, leading 35-21.
Oregon came out firing in the second
half as sophomore Kedzie Gunderson
drove hard to the hoop for an easy lay-in.
Gunderson had nine points and five re
bounds in her 31 minutes. Freshman
Carolyn Ganes added a quick five points
to the Ducks’ offense and every cylinder
of the Oregon engine was firing.
The Ducks led by 16, their largest
lead of the night, at 42-26 and never
looked back. The Sun Devils never got
closer than nine points through the sec
ond half, as Oregon kept its poise and
converted from the charity line.
“Everybody that went out on the
floor played their guts out for the min
utes that they were on,” Ganes said. “At
the end of the game we were all tired
and we knew there was nothing else we
could’ve have given and that is the way
we should end games.”
Oregon (8-11,4-6 Pac-10) got a solid
start to the second half of conference
Turn to Women's, page 12
Jeremy Forrest Emerald
Sophomore Kedzie Gunderson had nine points in Oregon's victory, as the Ducks improved to4-6 in Pac-10 play.
Ducks show the way it was supposed to be in victory
This is the way it was supposed
to be for the Oregon women’s bas
ketball team.
The way it was before Gathrine
Kraayeveld went down with a
mysterious injury, only to find out
later that it was staph infection in
her knee.
Same goes with Amy Parrish and
her sudden disappearance due to
medical reasons in December.
And especially the way it was be
fore the Shaquala Williams suspen
sion began
the Ducks’
early-season
demise.
It was Ore
gon, playing
together with
the same flair
as the team
that went 5-0
in the WNIT
last season.
The 68-52
Hank
Hager
Behind the dish
victory over Arizona State Thurs
day was simply the best Oregon
has played in a long time.
“Certainly, defensively and re
bounding-wise, this is what we’re
capable of,” head coach Bev
Smith said.
What the Ducks are capable of is
mind-blowing, if not beyond imagi
nation.
You had Brandi Davis shooting
over Sun Devil defenders, proving
her mid-season slump may be
coming to an end. She showed
what she could do in the Ducks’
non-conference tilts, and if she can
keep it up, Oregon will have a tool
in its belt that has not been equaled
in a while.
You also had Kedzie Gunderson
doing her usual acrobatic stunts for
the crowd, something she seemed
to perfect last season. If she’s not
completely over her broken nose
— suffered against Montana — wait
until she is.
And you had Alissa Edwards and
Carolyn Ganes providing the glue to
the offense. Edwards with her abili
ty to take abuse farther than seem
ingly possible. And Ganes with her
ability to shoot from inside or out
side, able to grab that ever-important
rebound when it seems all is lost.
“Now we know we can come out
and play a good game like this,”
Ganes said.
Turn to Hager, page 12
Men win overtime thriller at UCLA
The Ducks get 27 points from Luke
Jackson, who was supposed to sit
out the game with his finger injury
Men’s basketball
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
Luke Jackson played inspired basket
ball in the second half. Ian Crosswhite
played inspired in overtime.
And between the two of them, Jackson
and Crosswhite were able to play enough
inspired basketball to lift Oregon to an in
spiring 96-91 overtime win over UCLA in
Los Angeles.
“We had to win this game,” Oregon
head coach Ernie Kent told KUGN-AM af
ter the game. “And I think this team
showed a gutsy performance to do it.”
Gutsy performance No. 1 came courtesy
of Jackson, who wasn’t even supposed to
play in the game in the first place. But he
put the pain of a severly lacerated ring fin
ger behind him, came off the bench five
minutes into the game, scored 27 points
and was the Ducks’ spark as point guard
Luke Ridnour sat out most of the second
half with four fouls.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,”
Kent said. “That will go down as one of
the all-time gutsy performances, with the
way his hand looked last week, and a
week later he’s back on that floor, helping
this team to win.”
Gutsy performance No. 2 came cour
tesy of Crosswhite, who scored eight of
Oregon’s 15 points in overtime, most
during a crucial stretch midway through
the extra period, when UCLA was threat
ening to take over. With the Bruins lead
ing 85-84, Crosswhite hit a long three
pointer with a defender in his face to put
the Ducks ahead 87-85. Later, he spun
around defender Ryan Hollins, laid the
ball in and converted the foul shot as
Hollins fouled the big Australian. That
gave Oregon a lead it wouldn’t relinquish,
at 92-91.
“To come out and score so many
points, especially at clutch times, was
great for me,” Crosswhite, who scored 22
points total, told Fox Sports.
UCLA came out of the gates in the first
half as a different team than advertised.
The Bruins, supposedly struggling through
the Pac-10 season, hit eight of their first 11
shots and jumped out to an 18-8 lead. The
Ducks got their three-point game going,
and went on a 14-3 run to pull back even,
and then finished the half on a 7-0 run to
lead 42-35 at halftime.
But UCLA came out of halftime fired
up. Ridnour picked up his third foul,
UCLA went on a 12-4 run and Ridnour
picked up his fourth foul with 15:11 re
maining. Kent kept him out of the game
and the Ducks — with freshman Bran
don Lincoln running the point — stayed
with the Bruins until the 7:53 mark.
“I thought that was key, that we didn’t
let them get the momentum with Rid
nour on the bench,” Kent said.
That’s about when Jackson took over
the game, scoring six-straight points on
three different scintillating moves. The
first was a fadeaway in which Jackson
faded all the way back to the floor, the
second was an up and under lay in, and
the third was a quick drive and lay-in,
with the final bucket putting Oregon
ahead 74-73.
The teams exchanged baskets and
Turn to Men's, page 12
! Adam Amato Emerald
Luke Jackson came back from injury to score 27 points against UCIA