Cardinal roll toward Pac-10 tournament
Stanford clinches its third
straight Pac-10 title and enters
the tournament as the top seed
Women’s Pac-10
Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
The regular season has finally
come to a close in Pacific-10 Confer
ence women’s basketball. The seed
ings and schedules have been set.
But the madness has just begun.
Stanford (23-4,15-3 Pac-10) leads
the way as the No. 1 seed in this
weekend’s Pac-10 Tournament. The
Cardinal clinched the title for the
third straight year with a win over
UCLA two weeks ago.
Junior Nicole Powell has been the
rock for Stanford all season as the
leading scorer and rebounder, which
has helped the Cardinal stay above
the rest of the conference.
Powell averages 18.3 points per
game and 9.5 rebounds per game.
The Phoenix native posted 26
points, eight rebounds, six assists
and two blocked shots in Stanford’s
final game against Arizona State.
Powell will look to lead her No. 9
Cardinal to the Pac-10 Tournament
championship and deep into the
heart of the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s not the same as a regional
championship or a national champi
onship, but you have to win your
conference to get where you want to
go,” Powell said. “You have to win
games and do all the little things.”
Even with a Pac-10 title, the Car
oregon
daily
emerald
worldwide
you can read the
emerald from
anywhere
in the world.
HEY STUDENT GROUPS! Ai
dinal are far from being satisfied and
understand that hard work still lies
ahead in order to be successful.
“I think we’re just finding our
selves,” Stanford head coach Tara
VanDerveer said. “I think we’ve
got a lot more to go and a ways to
improve.”
VanDerveer captured her 11th
Pac-10 title this season and was re
cently named as one of 25 finalists
for the Naismith Women’s College
Basketball Coach of the Year Award.
Stanford’s first game of the Pac-10
Tournament will be Saturday
evening. The Cardinal will face the
winner of the Arizona State-Califor
nia matchup.
"I think we're just
finding ourselves. I
think we've got a lot
more to go and a ways
to improve."
Tara VanDerveer
Stanford head coach
Dawgs get dirty
Washington may have not
clinched a Pac-10 title, but it has
plenty to be proud of after destroy
ing Washington State by 24 points
Saturday.
No. 25 Washington (21-6, 13-5
Pac-10) will be the No. 2 seed in the
Pac-10 Tournament after wrapping
up a record of 14-0 at home. The
Huskies have not gone undefeated at
home since 1988-89.
The Huskies were led by Giu
liana Mendiola with 20 points and
five steals as the Dawgs jumped to
a 26-9 lead early on their in-state
rival Saturday.
At one point, the Cougars went
seven minutes without a field goal
and finished the game with more
turnovers (18) than first-half
points (17).
“It’s been an amazing year and
great at home,” Washington head
coach June Daugherty said. “I’m so
proud of our ball club and the suc
cess we had all season.”
The Huskies could potentially
wreak havoc on the Cougars again.
Washington will face the winner of the
USC-Washington State matchup in
their first game of the tournament.
No surprise here
She lives to break records.
She receives Pac-10 Player of the
Week honors almost every other
week.
She is freshman Shawntinice Polk
of the Arizona Wildcats.
Polk recently received her fourth
weekly award of the year after she
averaged 22.5 points, nine rebounds
and seven blocks in a sweep of the
Bay Area schools.
Polk broke three school records in
one game on March 1, a Sun Devil
defeat of Cal. Her nine blocks broke
the old record set in 1980-81, before
she was born. The center also set a
new freshman scoring record at Ari
zona and a new single-season record
for rebounds.
Contact the sports reporter
at jessethomas@dailyemerald.com.
Adam Amato Emerald
Nicole Powell and Stanford won the regular season, and now want the tournament
Ducks open Classic strong, fade late
The men’s golf team again
struggles in later rounds
and finds itself eight strokes
out of a top-10 finish
Golf
Scott Archer
Freelance Sports Reporter
After the opening two rounds
Monday at North Ranch Country
Club in Westlake Village, Calif., the
Oregon men’s golf team found itself
tied for 13th at the Cleveland Golf
Classic after shooting a 21-over-par
568 for the day. The day didn’t start
so rough for Oregon, which was tied
for sixth overall after the first round,
before it tumbled late in the day to
find itself ahead of only four of the 17
teams competing.
The Ducks were led by senior
John Ellis, who shot a three-over par,
to finish the opening two rounds tied
for 21st. Freshman Gregg LaVoie
opened the first round with an even
par 71, but struggled in the second
round, adding six strokes to his
opening par to finish in a tie for 47th
overall at six-over par.
UCLA leads the field at two-un
der par following a dominant sec
ond round performance which saw
the team shoot a remarkable sev
en-under par.
Oregon wraps up play tomorrow
in the third and final round of the
tournament.
Women open
spring season
The Oregon women’s golf team
swings into the spring portion of its
2002-03 season today and Wednes
day in the Spartan Invitational at
the Corral De Tierra Country Club.
The Ducks will play two rounds to
day and one round Wednesday at
the 5,938-yard, par-72 course in
Salinas, Calif.
Oregon, which faces a tough
blend of competition in its first
tournament since its Nov. 13 ap
pearance in the UNLV Founder's
Day Club Tournament, will send a
young group of players to the Spar
tan Invitational.
Traveling to Salinas for the
Ducks will be freshmen Therese
Wenslow, Michelle Timpani and
Erin Andrews, along with sopho
mores Johnna Nealy, Jess Garlyon
and Jaime Seefried. Wenslow fin
ished the fall portion of the season
as Oregon’s No. 1 golfer with a 75.3
stroke average, followed closely by
Nealy. All three of Oregon’s sopho
more members competed at the
tournament last year, and Oregon
finished 12th overall.
Scott Archer is a freelance writer
for the Emerald.
Julius Barnes (24)
and the Cardinal will
face a rematch with
Cal on Saturday. The
Bears blew out
Stanford in Berkeley
earlier this season,
but Stanford is on a
hot streak heading
into Saturday's
contest
Adam Amato Emerald
Men's
continued from page 9
will get second place in the Pac-10 and a date with the
No. 7 seed in the Pac-10 Tournament, while the loser
gets the No. 3 tournament.
Gal won the first matchup between the teams, 72-59,
in the conference’s first weekend back in December. But
since that game, the Cardinal have gone on a remarkable
13-3 run that culminated with a last-second loss to No. 1
Arizona in Palo Alto on Saturday. During the streak, the
Cardinal were the only team to beat Arizona, as they
nipped the Wildcats 82-77 in Tucson.
All of which makes Saturday’s game much bigger.
Who needs March Madness?
Bill Walton might call the possible matchups in the
Pac-10 Tournament “scintillating.”
Only a true Walton-ism could do them justice.
If things pan out like they should in the first round,
the second day of play at this year’s conference tourna
ment could enter don’t-leave-the-television-for-a-sec
ond area. The top half of the bracket will feature top
seeded Arizona against either Oregon or Arizona
State, while the bottom half could feature Stanford
Cal III. The first game of Friday, March 14’s action
starts at 6 p.m. while the second game is slated for
8:30. The March 15 title game starts at 3 p.m.
Hold on to your reclining chairs. It’s gonna be a wild ride.
Contact the sports editor at peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
Ivertise your upcoming events in the Oregon Daily Emerald. Special student rates. Call 346-3712