Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Friday, February 14,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Best bet
NCAA men's basketball:
Oregon at Oregon State
6 p.m. Saturday, CBS
Adam Amato Emerald
Kayla Steen has averaged 5.1 points per game this season, her first with the Ducks after transferring.
Full Steen ahead
Kayla Steen has fought through injury to take
on an important role with the Oregon team
Women’s basketball
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
For some Oregon basketball players, the high
lights of the regular season are the annual contests
against rival Oregon State.
Twice a season, fans are afforded an opportunity
to watch the state’s powerhouses duke it out, once
at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis and another time at
McArthur Court in Eugene.
For the players, it’s a chance to take on former
teammates or players they’ve played against in
high school. It also gives them a chance to be in
the spotlight.
Kayla Steen is no different — except in the sense
that she’s getting the chance to play in only one Civ
il War contest this season instead of the usual two.
Steen, a junior transfer from Clackamas Commu
nity College in Oregon City, has had back problems
plague her for most of the season. And for most of
the season, she’s played through the pain.
Except, of course, when the Ducks took on the
Beavers on Jan. 18 in Corvallis.
“I was really, really disappointed I had to miss the
first Civil War game I could have played in,” Steen
said. “I’m pumped coming into this next Oregon
State game. I’ve heard a lot of things about the Civil
War game, and I’m really excited to come out and
help the team in any way I can.”
The Ducks lost that game, 67-51, in what was the
team’s third-straight loss. Steen dressed for the con
test but never played.
Coming into the season, Steen was a virtual un
known to Oregon fans.
Late last season, she was contacted by head coach
Bev Smith and the rest of the Duck program. She
was being recruited, albeit late, to a Division I pro
gram in one of the nation’s top conferences, the Pa
cific-10.
So it was a natural choice for Steen to come down
to Eugene and end her collegiate career as a Duck.
“I knew I wanted to be close to home and I knew I
wanted to play for a great program,” she said. “When
the opportunity came
up — which was fairly ^
late in the season that VlH t«l|3
I was even contacted who: Oregon women
by UO — it was kind of Vs. Oregon State
one of those things I ^
never thought would When: 1 p'm
ever happen. It was Where: McArthur Court
something you could
n’t pass up. You had to
take advantage of it.”
It wasn’t as though the Ducks were going to be
short at the guard position. Oregon had All-Ameri
ca candidate Shaquala Williams at point guard, pro
gram stalwart Alissa Edwards assuming a starting
position and, overall, six full-time players at the po
sition.
Steen was one of those six who had to fight for
playing time.
“I think the expectation we had for her was that
she was going to be an experienced player,” Smith
said. “Defensively, she can handle her own. Offen
sively, we saw her as a real good shooter and we still
do see her as a shooter.”
Then, Oregon’s world seemed to come crashing
down. Williams was dismissed from the team for
good Dec. 9, just two days after the Ducks — minus
Williams — had pulled off a come-from-behind vic
tory over BYU in Portland.
The landscape of the team changed dramatically.
Edwards moved primarily to the point, opening up
the shooting-guard position.
Turn to Steen, page 12
On tap
Who: Oregon women
vs, Oregon State
When: l p.m.
Where: McArthur Court
Men need road
wins; Civil War
could be a start
The Ducks are close to ‘must-win’ territory as they
head to Corvallis for Saturday’s Civil War matchup
Men’s basketball
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
It might be a little early to start calling this part of the sea
son “the home stretch” for the Oregon men’s basketball
team.
But as they head to Corvallis on Saturday, the Ducks need
to think about stretching—and flexing— their muscles for
the last part of the season.
Oregon sat fifth in the conference before Thursday’s
games. The Ducks are 16-6 overall, but are only 6-5 in Pacif
ic-10 Conference play with seven games remaining. Their
remaining schedule is littered with potential land mines, in
cluding road games at upset-happy Washington, as well as
Arizona State and Arizona.
Not to mention the potential land mine in Corvallis.
“Oregon State is a much-improved basketball team since
the last time we played them, and they continue to get bet
ter,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said.
The Beavers have turned things around, slightly, since the
Ducks faced them Jan. 18. That Oregon State team was 0-4
in Pac-10 play and was struggling to learn first-year coach
Jay John’s system.
But right after Oregon beat Oregon State 79-68 at
McArthur Court, the Beavers went on a four-game win
streak at home against the Washington schools and on the
road at the Los Angeles schools.
Since then, Oregon State dropped games to California and
Stanford by 13 and 11 points, respectively. But the Beavers
aren’t the same group of players that started the season so
poorly.
“They’re going to have a great crowd, and the fact that
they have three (seniors) who have not won against us
makes it that much more difficult for us,” Kent said.
Turn to Men's, page 16
Softball to travel to San Diego;
freshman pitcher leads the way
The softball squad takes Its 8-1 record to California in an
attempt to win its third tournament in as many tries
Softball
Mindi Rice
Freelance Sports Reporter
“Right now we’re just outplaying teams,” softball head coach
Kathy Arendsen said, after her squad won its second tourna
ment in as many weeks.
Outplaying, outpitching, outhitting, outrunning; more specif
ically, winning.
Oregon is hitting each of these two weeks into preseason
play. The Ducks have reasons to look up — 8-1 is the best start
for Oregon softball since at least 1986, when records were first
kept. Oregon now hopes to continue its good fortune into the
third tournament of the preseason in rainy San Diego.
Outpitching
In the first Pacific-10 Conference Player and Pitcher of the
Week awards of the season, Oregon freshman Amy Harris was
awarded Pitcher of the Week. Harris, who is 3-1 in the Ducks’ 8
1 season, earned back-to-back wins over ranked teams Friday
and Saturday.
Harris, a graduate of North Eugene, is only the second Ore
gon pitcher to win the award. Connie McMurren, another North
Eugene graduate, won the award as a freshman in 1999.
In the most recent tournament, Harris had nine strikeouts
and only allowed one run in 13 2/3 innings pitched.
In five appearances, Harris has pitched 27 2/3 innings, with
an ERA of 0.65, one complete game and a team-high 26 strike
outs. Her one loss came against Arkansas, 3-1. Harris earned
only one of the three runs.
Sophomore Lindsey Kontra is 3-0 this season with a com
plete game. The pitching staff has a combined ERA of 0.94,
while opponents have a 4.00 ERA.
Outhitting
Three Ducks are batting over .400 after two tournaments. Ju
nior Jenn Poore is hitting .476 in 21 at-bats, while senior An
drea Vidlund is batting .462. Senior Lynsey Haij, who has
played in all nine games, is hitting .464.
Adam Amato Emerald
Andrea Vidlund (front) is batting .462 for the Ducks, who are hitting
well as a team. The Ducks'team batting average is .278 in nine games.
Oregon has 71 hits and 37 runs in nine games. Vidlund and
sophomore Mari Lyn Petrick each have a home run on the sea
son.
The Ducks have outscored their opponents 37-13 thus far in
the season. Oregon is batting .278 as a team, while opponents
are hitting .227 against the Ducks.
Outrunning
Oregon’s opponents are 7-for-ll in stolen base attempts,
Turn to Softball, page 16