Sports Editor.
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, March 11,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Best bet
NBA: Portland at Seattle
7 p.m., KEVU
Adam Amato Emerald
Stanford's Azella Perryman (44) and TNae Thiel are seen here in action against the Ducks earlier
this season, but Stanford was in action again Monday, winning the Rac-10 Tournament title.
No shocker this year:
Cardinal win tourney
A year after ASU upset Stanford In the title
game, the Cardinal dispatch Arizona for
the crown in Monday night’s finale
Women’s Pac-10
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
SAN JOSE, Calif. — It hadn’t been that often that
Stanford had been held to under 60 points this sea
son, heading into Monday’s game against Arizona.
But in the championship of the Pacific-10 Confer
ence Tournament, 59 was all the top-seeded Cardi
nal needed.
Behind Nicole Powell’s 19 points, Stanford defeat
ed No. 3 Arizona, 59-49, in front of a tournament
high 5,757 fans at HP Pavilion to take the second an
nual tournament championship.
“We’re very proud to be Pac-10 Champions,”
Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said. “It’s a
tough league and we had to work to get it.”
The win ensures the Cardinal will receive the con
ference’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
That tournament is set to begin on March 22, and
Stanford is expected to play at its host facility,
Maples Pavilion, to open up. Maples will also host the
Western Regional.
Despite the loss, Arizona — ranked 21st in the
nation, is also expected to receive a bid to the
tournament.
“We know that in the second half, at least, we’ve
proven that we can play with Stanford and we’re just
as good as they are and we just hope that carries
over in the NCAA Tournament,” Arizona’s Krista
Warren said.
Powell was named the tournament’s most valu
able player after scoring 18 points against both Cali
fornia and UCLA earlier in the tournament. Kelley
Suminski, named to the All-Tournament Team,
posted 11 points Monday against the Wildcats.
Arizona had three players named to the All
Tournament team as well. Warren had 10 points
against the Cardinal, although she failed to score
in the second half. Dee-Dee Wheeler had 13 against
Stanford, while All Pae-10 Freshman Team mem
ber Shawntinice Polk was held to just five points
on 2-of-6 shooting.
Stanford, ranked 9th in the nation, began the
game on a torrid pace. The Cardinal led 11-2 after
four minutes on the strength of two three-pointers
by Suminski and a third by Powell.
“From the beginning of the game, we were back
on our heels,” Arizona head coach Joan Bonvicini
said. “Stanford was hitting some great three
pointers.”
Powell connected on five of her first six shots, and
scored 13 of Stanford’s first 18 points.
Stanford led by 14 points as late as nine minutes
into the first half, but both teams went on a scoring
drought for more than four minutes before Stan
ford’s Chelsea Trotter nailed a layup with 6:49 left.
The Wildcats eventually chipped away the Cardi
nal lead with an 11-2 run in the final three minutes
of the half. Stanford still went into halftime with an
11-point lead, 35-24.
In the second frame, the Cardinal had its largest
lead of the half early on at 11 points, but couldn’t
pull away. Arizona got within five with 1:18 left, but
Stanford kept the Wildcats off the scoreboard for the
rest of the game.
Polk’s five points represented a season low for
the Hanford, Calif., native. She was, however, able
Turn to Women's, page 10
Oregon sailing
combines hard
work with fun
The Duck sailors practice a lot and strive to be like
powers Washington and Portland State, but in the
end they’re about trips to the resevoir underthe sun
Jon Roetman
Sports Freelancer
It’s 3 p.m. and the Oregon club sailing team is heading to
Fern Ridge Reservoir.
Nobody minds the 20-minute drive because soon, every
one will be on the water.
Upon arrival, skippers and crews rig their respective
boats. It’s quiet, the sun is shining and there is a nice breeze.
Welcome to sailing practice. Besides being a time for
Duck sailors to improve their skills, practice doubles as
something some find even more important: an escape
from everyday life.
“You’re not worrying about finals, you’re not worrying
about tests and you’re not worrying about what you didn’t
get done during the day,” student coordinator George Yiou
los said. “You’re just totally relaxed.”
There is a serious side to sailing as well. With the majority
of the team being relatively inexperienced, hard work is
needed to develop the skills necessary for each member to
fulfill responsibilities.
The Ducks sail in 14-foot boats called Flying Juniors. Each
boat is sailed by two people, a “skipper” and a “crew.” A
skipper steers the vessel and makes calls to his or her crew
on how the boat should be balanced. A crew is in charge of
keeping the boat balanced while adjusting the jib and main
sails. Communication between the two is essential.
Turn to Sailing, page 10
WSU fires men’s basketball coach
The Cougars cut ties with Paul
Graham, who had a 9-63 Pac-10
record in four seasons at WSU
Men’s Pac-10 notes
Adam Jude
Senior Sports Reporter
After accumulating just three confer
ence wins in the past two seasons, Paul
Graham was fired Monday as head
coach of the Washington State men’s
basketball team.
Washington State Athletic Director
Jim Sterk said at a press conference
Monday that he told Graham of his de
cision a week ago. Graham reportedly
told his players Saturday after the
Cougars’ season-ending loss to UCLA in
Los Angeles.
In four seasons in Pullman, Graham
had a 31-79 overall record and was 9-63
in Pacific-10 Conference games. This
season, the Cougars finished 2-16 in con
ference play after going 1-17 last season.
The Cougars’ average home attendance
was 2,310 this season, just more than the
2,292 average from last year — the worst
figure in school history.
“The decision is based upon the last
four years ... the overall picture of the
basketball program,” Sterk said at the
press conference.
Graham, who turns 52 today, had one
year left on a five-year contract. The
school will buy out the final year for
#130,000, Sterk said.
Graham’s potential replacements in
clude Eastern Washington’s Ray Giaco
letti and former Cougar assistant Don
Newman, now an assistant coach with
the Milwaukee Bucks.
“We think someone can come in and
build upon what has been done in the
Amato Emerald
Freshman Randy Green and the rest of the Cougars will play for a new coach next season.
past, and the players that we have here,”
Sterk said. “We want men’s basketball...
to be competitive in the Pac-10 and to be
competitive nationally.”
All-Pac-l 0 awards
Oregon point guard Luke Ridnour was
named Monday the conference Player of
the Year, and nine others, including
teammate/roommate Luke Jackson,
were selected to the all-conference team.
Joining Ridnour and Jackson are Ari
zona seniors Jason Gardner and Luke
Walton; Arizona State freshman Ike Dio
gu; Gal’s Joe Shipp and Amit Tamir; Ore
gon State’s Phillip Ricci; Stanford’s Julius
Barnes; and UCLA’s Jason Kapono.
Diogu is the Freshman of the Year,
while Stanford’s Mike Montgomery and
Arizona’s Lute Olson share the Coach of
the Year award.
"The decision is based
upon the last four years"
Jim Sterk
Washington State athletic director
Tourney time
With Selection Sunday just a few days
away, the Pac-10 Tournament, beginning
Thursday at the Staples Center in Los An
geles, could make or break a team’s season.
Specifically, Oregon and Arizona
State need a victory to ensure an invita
tion to the Big Dance. Otherwise, it
might be NIT time.
The No. 4-seed Sun Devils (19-10 over
all, 11-7 Pac-10) and the fifth-seeded
Ducks (20-9,10-8 Pac-10) meet at approx
imately 3:30 p.m. Thursday in a rematch
Turn to Men's, page 10