Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, January 27,2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
NCAA basketball:
Florida vs. Alabama
5:30 p.m., ESPN2
Chelsea Wagner
made 10 three
pointers in
Oregon’s last two
games, but the
Ducks were not
able to capitalize
in either contest.
Wagner is in her
first season with
Oregon after
transferring from
Hawaii prior to
last season.
Erik Bishoff
Photographer
Wagner's play keeps
Ducks warm early on
Oregon guard Chelsea Wagner
has found her niche from the
perimeter and has benefited from it
By Jon Roetman
Sports Reporter
Chelsea Wagner has established herself as
the scoring threat that Oregon has so desper
ately needed.
During the last five
games, the sopho
more guard has aver
aged 11.4 points and
knocked down 16 of
38 three-point attempts.
Batding a tom lateral meniscus in her left
knee, the Springfield native has hit 10 three
pointers in the last two games.
Wagner's recent success didn't come with
out struggle. She suffered an ankle injury in
the preseason, bringing her practice time and
conditioning to a halt. She saw limited play
ing time early in the season and had trouble
fitting into the offensive flow.
It's safe to say that Wagner has found a
comfort zone.
Her perimeter scoring has taken some of
the pressure off Andrea Bills inside and has
opened up lanes for teammates to drive
through.
"I definitely have a little more confidence
in my shot," Wagner said. "We needed
WOMEN'S
BASKETBALL
someone to go out there and extend the de
fense a little bit to get (Bills) open a little bit
more. I just kind of took that upon myself
and I've been quite fortunate that they've
been dropping for me."
Closing time
Oregon (10-9 overall, 2-7 Pacific-10 Con
ference) used the last three games to address
several areas of concern.
The Ducks seemed to solve their problems
with scoring, rebounding and handling pres
sure defense during the three-game stretch,
but they have stumbled onto a new problem:
They can't hold a lead.
Oregon held second-half leads against Ari
zona and Arizona State last week but were
unable to close out either opponent.
The Ducks had a late six-point lead against
the Wildcats but were outscored 11-1 during
the game's final five minutes. Oregon was up
by eight on the Sun Devils with 3:59 remain
ing but was outscored 13-3 down the stretch.
"We need to do what we've done for 40
minutes," Oregon head coach Bev Smith
said. "Not wait until the other team catches
up and then try to do some last-minute hero
ics because that's too late."
Despite the losses, the Ducks have drasti
cally improved their rebounding effort. Ore
gon has held its own in the paint after being
dominated earlier in the season. The Ducks
have out-rebounded their opponents 107-104
Turn to WARM, page 6
Hank Hager
Behind the dish
ESPN still
tops heap
of sports
channels
I had an unusually hard time writing
this column today.
After all, I've only got a few subjects to
think about. Who could possibly write
something interesting about the Super
Bowl, Oregon's loss to Arizona a few days
ago, or the fact that the Blazers are sinking
— and fast?
What about the fact that the Oregon
women's basketball team can't seem to
buy a win, and the fact that Arizona State
— the most recent predator of the Duck —
had as many Oregon natives on the team
as Oregon did? That's true, by the way.
Nope, couldn't do it. Couldn't bring
myself to discuss who I think will win the
Super Bowl. It's not like it would matter
anyway. The commercials are the only
thing people really look forward to.
I know that's what I'm going to watch
the game for. I really do want to know
what that cute little AFLAC duck is going
to do. We should all be proud that the
company has provided us with a mascot
that is so dose to home.
Nope, still couldn't write about that.
Turn to HAGER, page 6
Wildcats triumph over Pac-10 teams
Arizona is back on the winning
track with three straight wins and
the nation’s top offense to boot
By Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
Ninth-ranked Arizona has got a new attitude.
The Wildcats are playing like they like to play,
dominating their opponent.
Arizona holds no shame in defeating a team
__ by 30 or more points. The
Rill HZ’ pii 9 c Wildcats have won three
111 til in a row after having
BASKETBALL dropped two in a row
- mid-season.
In a three-game span,
Arizona is averaging more than 98 points a
game. The Wildcats have had a margin of vic
tory of more than 27 points in the past
three contests.
It's a vicious offense with vicious speed that is
tough for any opponent to defend.
"We are definitely one of the best teams in the
country, but we have to play that way and show
it," freshman point guard Mustafa Shakur said
after Arizona's 109-75 victory over Oregon State
on Thursday. "We need to rip a team apart from
beginning to end."
Arizona's 109-point total was its highest out
put this season. The Wildcats have topped the
100-point total three times this season, not in
cluding exhibition games.
And the players are loving every minute of it.
Junior Salim Stoudamire is relishing it.
"Salim is in a positive mode," Arizona head
coach Lute Olson said. "You can just see it out
there. He's happy for the team playing well. His
New Year's resolution of being positive is impor
tant to him, and it's really important
to us."
While Stoudamire sparks the offense, 6
foot-4 Hassan Adams has been enjoying his
role on defense. Adams' vertical leap has
amazed many and it helped the sophomore
to earn four second-half blocks against
the Beavers.
"A block is way more fun than a dunk," Adams
said. "It's defense. If you get a big block it rolls af
ter that. A dunk is all love, but once you get the
block, it's all defense."
Conference bottoms out
Rather than contest a spot for the lead in the
Pacific-10 Conference against undefeated Stan
ford, four conference teams are competing for
the worst conference record.
Oregon State, Arizona State, Washington and
Washington State have all collided in the pit of
the conference with a combined 8-20 record. The
four schools are tied for seventh place with 2-5
records.
On the weekend, the Sun Devils took a split in
losing to Oregon and defeating the Beavers. Ore
gon State lost two straight to the Arizona schools
and Washington took a 13-point win over the
Cougars.
It's been a bumpy conference ride so far as
five teams have sub-.500 conference records.
USC is at 3-5 in conference play and sits at
sixth place.
At the top of the conference, below 8-0
Stanford, UCLA and Arizona sit in a tie for
second with 5-3 records while Oregon and
Cal are tied for fourth, both at 4-3 in the
conference.
In her memory
The California's men's basketball team played
in memory of a fallen women's basketball player
in Saturday night's 76-62 victory against UCLA.
Cal women's basketball player Alisa Lewis
died Jan. 19 from bacterial meningitis, an infec
tion of the covering of the brain and
spinal cord.
The Golden Bears' men's team wore small
black patches on the front of their uniforms that
read "AL 31" in memory of Lewis, who wore No.
31 on the basketball court.
Player of the Week
California freshman Leon Powe has been
named the Pacific-10 Conference Men's Basket
ball Player of the Week for January 19-25.
The forward from Oakland, Calif., averaged
16.5 points and 11 rebounds in a home sweep of
USC and UCLA this weekend.
Chris Coduto Arizona Daily Wildcat
Channing Frye (45) and Arizona knocked off Oregon on
Sunday, putting the Wildcats in a tie with UCLA for the
second-place spot in the Pacific-10 Conference.
Against the Trojans, Powe scored 14 points on
6 of 11 shooting with eight rebounds. Powe
turned 20 on Thursday, the day of the game.
Against the Bruins, he posted his league
leading eighth double-double with 19 points
and 14 rebounds. Me also added a pair of steals
and an assist.
Powe is averaging 15.5 points per game and a
league-best 9.7 rebounds per game. It is the 20th
time in league history that a freshman has re
ceived the honor.
Contact the sports reporter
at jessethomas@dailyemerald.com.