Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Monday, February 3,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Best bet
NCAA men's basketball:
Missouri at Kansas
6 p.m., ESPN
UO loses nailbiter at Mac
The women hang with Arizona,
but can’t pull out a last-minute
victory against the Wildcats
Women’s basketball
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
On an otherwise somber Saturday,
the Oregon women’s basketball team
showed a flair for the dramatic.
The only problem for the Ducks was
that No. 24 Arizona had the same flair.
Shawntinice Polk tied an Arizona
single-season record with her 15th
double-double as the Wildcats edged
Oregon, 71-66, in front of 4,126 at
McArthur Court.
Polk dominated the Ducks with 23
points and 15 rebounds, helping push
the Wildcats to their first-ever season
sweep of Oregon. The teams began
playing in 1981.
“It’s a good win,” Arizona head
coach Joan Bonvicini said. “It’s a good
way to go back to Tucson.”
While much of the talk after the
game centered on the play of Polk,
there was the feeling that Oregon (8-12
overall, 4-7 Pacific-10 Conference) was
a much different team than the one
that lost by 29 to Arizona on Jan. 2.
After all, the Ducks were outrebound
ed by just eight Saturday, compared to
a 23-board difference in January.
“Oregon is a much better team than
a month ago,” Bonvicini said. “Their
freshmen have improved.”
“We’ve come a long way,” Oregon
freshman Carolyn Ganes said. “The
first time we played them, we were go
ing through hard stuff as a team.”
While Polk provided much of Ari
zona’s offense, the Ducks were able
to neutralize the Wildcat shooters.
Arizona connected on just 8-of-23
three-pointers and shot 42 percent
from the field.
“We’re understanding the impor
tance of our defensive intensity,” Ore
gon head coach Bev Smith said.
Had the Ducks come out strong
from the start, the final result could
have easily fell Oregon’s way.
Arizona (14-6, 7-4) began the first
half on a 7-0 run, and led 11-2 at the
17:57 mark.
After sophomore Brandi Davis
knocked down a jumper at the start of
the second, the Wildcats went on an
11-0 run in the next three minutes be
fore Ganes answered with a layup.
“The first four minutes (of the sec
ond half) were a little bit unsettling be
cause we didn’t have the same aggres
siveness and mentality as Thursday,”
Smith said in reference to Oregon’s
68-52 victory over Arizona State.
The Ducks held close to the Wild
cats for much of the second half, post
ing a tie at 63 with four minutes left.
But four consecutive points by Polk
pushed Arizona to a four-point lead
with less than one minute remaining.
Ganes then answered back with a
tip-in and free-throw make after a foul
by Arizona’s Krista Warren, pulling the
Ducks within one.
With the Ducks trailing and the clock
winding down quickly, senior guard
Alissa Edwards purposely fouled Ari
zona guard Dee-Dee Wheeler. Wheeler
knocked down both of her free throws,
setting up a potential game-tying three
pointer for the Ducks.
At least that’s what they wanted.
“We thought we were going to go for
the three,” Smith said. “They played it
very well. We didn’t get the shot
we wanted.”
With less than 20 seconds left on the
clock, Davis pulled up for a jumper just
in front of the three-point line, and hit
the rim with the shot. The ball fell into
the hands of Warren, and from that
point on, all Oregon could do was foul.
Arizona’s Natalie Jones sank both
her free throws to ice the game for
the Wildcats.
“I was trying to get to the basket and
get fouled,” Davis said. “It really was
n’t the shot I wanted. It’s a lesson
learned. I’m still young.”
Davis led the Ducks with 21 points,
while Ganes — battling Polk all day
down low — pitched in with 15, and
added seven rebounds.
Overall, Oregon shot 41 percent
from the field and connected on just 5
of-17 from beyond the arc.
“It’s a good lesson for us and we’ll
see them in the Pac-10 Tournament,”
Davis said.
Contact the sports reporter
at hankhager@dailyemerald.com.
i ..... nh ———
Jeremy Forrest Emerald
Kedzie Gunderson and the Ducks lost a heartbreaker to Arizona.
Ganes, Bills battle Arizona’s Polk in tough loss
The three young post players set
the tone for the game and for future
matchups between UO and UA
Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
It was a battle of the big women, set in
the middle of McArthur Court.
It was a war reminiscent of that in the
NBA between the Spurs’ “Twin Towers”
and Shaquille O’Neal.
And as Oregon’s version of the Towers,
freshman Carolyn Ganes and sophomore
Andrea Bills were introduced to Arizona’s
version of Shaq — Shawntiniee Polk.
Prior to Saturday’s matchup between
Oregon and Arizona, Polk ranked first in
the Pacific-10 Conference in rebounding
and field goal percentage, and second in
scoring and blocked shots.
The 6-foot-5-inch center leads the Wild
cats in almost every statistical category,
as she averages 17.3 points, 11.2 re
bounds and 2.1 blocks per game.
“She is just a very, very impressive
presence on the floor,” Oregon head
coach Bev Smith said. “She knows her
strengths and how she can score and has
a great deal of confidence. Defensively,
she can do some things as well, and our
best defense was to just attack her.”
And in front of 4,126 fans at McArthur
Court, the battle was won by Polk. She
finished the afternoon with 23 points, 15
rebounds and four blocked shots. It was
the 15th double-double of the season for
the freshman, which ties the school
record set in 1982.
But Ganes and Bills made nothing easy
for the Wildcats on either end, and the
war was on for the entire 40 minutes.
“I had to work for everything and I was
going up against some great post players,”
Polk said. “Playing against them has given
me a lot of experience and they did not
give me anything easy.”
“It is a war,” Arizona head coach Joan
Bonvicini said. “Ganes is a great player
and she is really tough.”
Ganes took quite a beating from Polk,
garnering three fouls, yet had a solid per
formance of her own. The 6-foot-3-inch
freshman shot 6-for-12 from the field en
route to 15 points and Seven rebounds in
her 26 minutes.
Bills had a strong first half but couldn’t
repeat in the second and finished with
eight points and eight rebounds.
The bulk of the battle was waged in the
last 20 minutes, and Polk set the pace,
scoring a quick seven points to start the
second half.
After a blocked shot by Bills, Polk ran
the length of the floor to get the ball in the
post, where she converted and was fouled
to make it a three-point play.
“Going into the game, our focus was to
try and somewhat shut down number
zero-zero,” Ganes said. “She is an excel
lent player and when she gets inside, there
is not too much you can do about it.”
The war was officially on.
Tu rn to Women's, page 10
Men turn over a loss Sunday at Southern California
Oregon cant overcome 20 first-half
turnovers, and the Ducks lose their
third Rac-10 road game in fourtries
Adam Jude
Senior Sports Reporter
The statistical problems are glaring.
A combined eight points and 11 fouls
from five post players, a season-high 26
turnovers, 33.3 percent second-half
shooting, and a 45-28 rebounding deficit.
Emotionally, the problems for the No.
22 Oregon men’s basketball team weren’t
quite as clear Sunday in a 91-76 loss to
USG at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.
“Mentally, we were completely shut
down,” head coach Ernie Kent told
KUGN-AM after the Ducks’ third loss in
four Pacific-10 Conference road games.
The loss snapped a five-game winning
streak for the Ducks (15-5 overall, 5-4
Pac-10), who are now tied with Arizona
State for fourth place in the conference.
After a slow start, Luke Ridnour paced
the Ducks with 21 points, though he had
a team-high six turnovers. Andre Joseph
added 18 points and five turnovers. Luke
Jackson, playing with his cut ring finger
wrapped, came off the bench to score 17.
Oregon’s big men', however, were prac
tically invisible against USG (8-9, 4-5).
Robert Johnson picked up his fourth foul
with 16:10 remaining, sending him to the
bench for more than 10 minutes, and Ian
Grosswhite went to the bench at the
12:22 mark after his fourth foul and did
n’t return until there was 4:35 left.
Johnson finished with two points, four
rebounds and five turnovers in 14 min
utes. Grosswhite, who had a career-high
22 points and 12 rebounds in Oregon’s
96-91 overtime win over UCLA on
Thursday, didn’t score until the final 30
seconds, when the game was already out
of reach.
“You can’t blame them, but they know
they have to step up,” Kent said of his
post players. “They had no legs, and I
thought mentally they were extremely
out.”
Five Trojans scored in double figures,
led by Errick Graven, who had 18 points,
10 rebounds and eight steals. Rory O’Neil
added 12 points, 12 rebounds and five
blocks.
“USG took it to us in every area they
could,” Kent said. “If they played this
well every night, their record would be
different. They could easily be 8-0, 9-0
right now.”
The Ducks shot 51.9 percent in the
Turn to Men's, page 10
Adam Amato Emerald
Andre Joseph (35) had 18 points in Oregon's loss to USC on Sunday,
but followed a team trend by notching five turnovers in the game.