With two weeks of official practices under their belt, the Oregon women’s basketball team is prepping for the second 40-minute scrimmage of the fall.
The Green & Yellow scrimmage is scheduled for this Saturday, Oct. 25 at 2 p.m. at Matthew Knight Arena. The scrimmage will be the first chance for fans to see a glimpse of the team for the 2014-2015 season. The north doors of the arena will be open an hour prior to tip. Afterwards, fans will have an opportunity to meet and greet with players and coaches, including a “selfie” and autograph session.
On Oct. 22, coach Kelly Graves and Jillian Alleyne will represent the Ducks during the Pac-12 WBB Media Day in San Francisco, Calif. Graves and Alleyne will be on live at 1:00 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks.
After last Friday’s practice (Oct. 17), redshirt junior guard Lexi Petersen took the time to talk about how the season is shaping up and the collective strategy heading into the third week of official practices.
With two weeks through of official fall practices, how are things going overall?
So far, the practices and stuff have been going really well. We’ve been practicing for about two weeks, so we’re getting all the plays in and we kind of have an idea of what coach wants. And, right now, it’s all about executing and getting better at that.
Coach Kelly Graves has really been talking about ball screens as being a critical part of your game this year. How is that progression going for you?
Ball screens this year are going to be huge for us. Coach really stresses them and emphasizes them in all of our sets and offenses. It just is a good way of getting people open and getting the flow of things going.
How cool is it to have a coach that lives close to campus and says the door is always open for his team? 
It’s so nice having coach live so close to us—he only lives a couple blocks from me. And I know there’s been times like when—the WNBA games are on and we don’t have WNBA TV and we just go over there. He really does say that the door is always open. So, it’s nice to have a coach to hang out with—hang out at his house and it really is like a family.
How does the team look to prepare for the beginning of the season? How does the intensity vary heading towards the home opener on Nov. 14?
I think we’ve been amping up the intensity each practice as we go and as we learn new things. I think they expect more of us each practice and for us to really understand things better and get the flow of how we want things to go.
How was the transition been to being a leader on the team this season?
I feel like it’s been a pretty easy transition—transitioning into a leader. We all are starting to hold each other accountable and it’s not like just two appointed people are leaders—everyone holds each other accountable, so it’s been pretty easy.
So there’s almost a pack mentality?
Yeah, exactly.
Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne