Oregon Daily Emerald
Friday, November 12, 2004
“We have a need for speed in that position. ”
Bev Smith | Oregon women’s head coach on new point guard recruit Tamika Nurse
■ Duck volleyball
Stanford
attackers
overwhelm
Oregon
Kelly Russell and Sarah Mason
both posted 15 kills for the Ducks;
but the Cardinal swept the match
BY STEPHEN MILLER
SPORTS REPORTER
Oregon gave its opponent trouble, but
Stanford’s attackers ultimately prevailed on
Thursday at McArthur Court.
Four of the Cardinal’s hitters recorded
double-digits in kills as they handed the
Ducks (9-15 overall, 1-13 Pacific-10 Confer
ence) their 10th sweep of the season, 30-22,
30-22, 30-27.
“(Stanford) was pretty difficult to block,
but I think our blockers did a good job,”
Oregon setter Heather Madison said. “Ogonna
(Nnamani) hits over the block and Kristin
Richards hits low, so we were just trying to
adjust to that.”
Nnamani landed a match-high 21 kills on
46 attempts for the No. 11 Cardinal. The
senior outside hitter finished with a .348
hitting percentage. She recorded nine kills in
the first game alone.
The Ducks had two players turn in equally
impressive performances. Outside hitter
Kelly Russell posted 15 kills, bringing her total
number of kills on the season beyond 300.
Sarah Mason also posted 15 kills, and both
players recorded 13 digs.
“They both did an amazing job,” Madison
said, who finished with 39 assists. “We
executed a lot better in this match than in
previous matches.”
Mason, a sophomore, landed Oregon’s
only two service aces of the match in the
first game.
“A lot of people stepped up, but Sarah had
an incredible match,” Madison said. “We
have a lot of people that are really driven on
this team.”
Madison said her team’s all-around
patience on the floor is what kept them in
the contest.
Stanford (18-6, 10-3) received 11 kills and a
match-best 18 digs from Richards, who now
has 15 double-doubles this season. Senior
Jennifer Hucke also shined with 10 kills and
10 digs.
Freshman Franci Girard added 11 kills and a
match-high six block assists for Stanford,
which finished with 10 team blocks compared
to Oregon’s four. Every player that was
included in Stanford’s attack recorded a
hitting percentage above .225.
Oregon hit .175 for the match and
sustained its hitting percentage above the .200
mark in the first and third games. Stanford
hit .341 to extend its winning streak to
three matches.
Senior libero Katie O’Neil collected a team
high 15 assists for the Ducks.
Oregon tied the score five times in each of
the first two games. In the third game, the
Ducks strung together several sideouts and
recorded 13 ties, but never saw a lead greater
than two points.
Stanford libero Bryn Kehoe added 50 assists
and 14 digs.
stephenmiller@ daily emerald, com
■ Men's basketball
Ducks shift gears, turn focus to defense
Danielle Hickey | Photo editor
Oregon guard Malik Hairston scored 30 points in 19 minutes Nov. 7 against
Trinity Western. The Ducks take on Western Oregon Sunday at Mac Court.
Oregon hopes to improve defensively heading into its
last exhibition game with Western Oregon on Sunday
BY CLAYTON JONES
SPORTS EDITOR
Everybody gets to see more of
the new-look Oregon men’s bas
ketball this week when they host
Western Oregon in their final ex
hibition game Sunday at
McArthur Court.
The Wolves are coming off Mon
day’s 67-51 loss to Oregon State ,
but the game was much closer
than the final score indicates.
In their the Ducks’ first exhibi
tion game last weekend, they
blew out TYinity Western 106-79,
but head coach Ernie Kent said
his young team still has much
to improve.
“Defensively, I want to greatly
improve, particularly with our on
the-ball defense,” Kent said.
Defense has been the focus
at practice this week for Oregon,
according to freshman Malik
Hairston.
“The team needs to look better
defensively,” Hairston said. “We
want to focus on executing, espe
cially on transition defense.”
Junior forward Ian Crosswhite,
who scored 11 points and
had eight rebounds against
TYinity Western Sunday, agreed
with Hairston.
“I think we all would like
to see us do a better job on
defense,” Crosswhite said. “TYinity
Western scored so many points so
we are going to have to go out
there and get some stops.”
Redmond native Maarty
Leunen, who grabbed a
team-high 11 rebounds against
TYinity Western, said containing
the ball has been stressed upon
this week in practice.
“Containing the ball one-on-one
and working on our defensive
stance (is key),” Leunen said. “If
we do break down we have to
make sure it goes to the help side.”
One thing that didn’t break
down for the Ducks on Sunday
was their offense, with Hairston
leading the way with 30 points in
19 minutes.
“We really started to get up and
down and shared the basketball,”
Kent said about his team’s 109
point performance. “We really got
into a rhythm and I would like to
start the game in that rhythm in
Sunday’s ball game.”
The Ducks’ fast-paced game
wasn’t easy for everybody to
pick up.
“I think it is great,” Hairston
said about the offense. “When I
first got here, I couldn’t handle it.
Now that we are weeks into prac
tice I feel like I fit right in.”
Crosswhite knows despite the
fast pace and a feeling of exclu
sion, the offense will sometimes be
forced into half-court situations.
“(The offense) is fun,” Cross
white said. “As long as you are
ready to go then you can get in
volved. Sometimes you do just feel
like you’re getting rebounds and
just throwing the ball out there (to
the guards).
“But when it comes to sets,
MEN'S, page 6A
■ Women's basketball
Oregon prepares for game
against Czech club team
Strakonice BBC caps off a two-week tour, playing the Ducks
for the second-straight year in this season's last exhibition game
BY BRIAN SMITH
SPORTS REPORTER
For the second year in a row, the Oregon
women’s basketball team will take on
Strakonice BBC, a club team from the Czech
Republic, in an exhibition matchup today at
5 p.m. at McArthur Court.
This will be the second and last exhibition
of the year for the Ducks, who are coming off
a 75-23 win over Western Oregon.
The Strakonice BBC team is part of Basket
ball Travelers, Inc., a company that organiz
es tours and tournaments for college and
high school teams. Strakonice is wrapping up
a two-week tour of the western United States,
playing eight schools — Arizona State, North
ern Arizona, UC Santa Barbara, St. Mary’s,
San Francisco, Fresno State, Oregon and Ore
gon State — along the way.
“They are a European club team, which
means they are a little more experienced and
older (than a college team),” Oregon head
coach Bev Smith said. “They are very skilled
and should be a good challenge for us.”
While Strakonice will present a different
look for Oregon, the team is neither deep nor
offensively dangerous. Strakonice has scored
70 or more points once during its trip and has
not shot above 35 percent from the field in
any of their games.
“They are more of a passing, slashing type
of team,” Smith said. “They are more simplis
tic on offense and not as athletic as other
Division I college teams, but they should still
be tough. ”
Its top two scorers are Martina Hulkova, a
5-foot-9 forward, and Miroslava Vodrazkova,
a 6-foot-4 center. Both Hulkova and
Vodrazkova have scored 17 points in a game
and have been Strakonice’s top scorers in
four of its six contests.
Strakonice center Jitka Musilova had a
team-high 15 points against UCSB on Nov. 7.
For the Ducks, defense and shot selection
will be the emphasis in the game.
“We have to work on not talking about the
outcome (during the game),” Smith said.
“We’re looking to be more consistent on de
fense and to have better shot selection. We
can’t have as many three-pointers (as we did
last time).”
Oregon went 5-21 behind the arc against
Western Oregon, with junior Chelsea Wagner
connecting on three of them, while Brandi
Davis had the other two. The Ducks attempted
WOMEN'S, page 6A
IN BRIEF
Canadian point guard signs
letter of intent with Oregon
Tamika Nurse, a member of the Canadi
an Junior National team, signed a national
letter of intent with the Oregon women’s
basketball team yesterday.
The 5-foot-9 point guard from St.
Thomas More Catholic Secondary School
in Hamilton, Ontario, will join the Ducks
for the 2005-06 season and is expected to
replace current senior Corrie Mizusawa as
the Ducks’ point guard next year.
“She’s got great speed ... in the full court
and has really good quickness in the half
court to break people down,” Oregon head
coach Bev Smith said. “We have a need
for speed in that position. Defensively,
she’s a very aggressive, tough defender,
particularly on the ball.”
Nurse competed on the Canadian Junior
National team last summer where she was
the team’s second-leading scorer and as
sists leader. She helped the team qualify
for the World Championships for the first
time in Canadian history.
A two-time MVP in the Canadian
National Junior championships, she also
was a member of the Hamilton Transway
club team that won seven provincial
championships.
She comes from an athletic family —
her father played in the CFL, mother
* played college basketball at McMaster
University in Hamilton and her aunt,
married to the Philadelphia Eagles’
Donovan McNabb, was a basketball stand
out at Syracuse.
Brian Smith