Micaela Cocks offered some impromptu singing. She played with the mic in a postgame press conference, “Test Taylor,” alongside a laughing Taylor Lilley, Ellie Manou and Kaela Chapdelaine.
Life following a 66-45 blowout of Washington State was good.
“Tell us about the game,” Chapdelaine said, offering the mic to head coach Bev Smith.
“I’ll just say it’s obvious we haven’t been here at this table for a long time as you can tell by the excitement of this young and not so young group,” Smith said.
Even a day later, following a season-ending loss to California, the optimism was palpable for the Oregon women’s basketball team. Oregon had advanced to the second round of the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament in San Jose, Calif.
Entering Sunday’s game, Oregon had won four of five and did so with a young group translating potential into on-court production.
Oregon continued to receive the strong play of late from the post players, allowing open looks for Cocks and Lilley and letting them impact the game from the perimeter.
Manou maneuvered inside Friday night for a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. On Saturday, it was Canepa, back near her hometown of San Francisco, who posted her first career double-double with 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
The strong inside play created more openings for Lilley and Cocks, who took advantage. The two guards combined for 12-of-24 shooting and 33 of Oregon’s 66 points. Saturday afternoon was more of the same with a 12-of-23 shooting performance between the two friends and 33 of Oregon’s 60 points.
“The inside-outside looks were because of the stellar play of Ellie,” Chapdelaine said Friday. “Ellyce had some good looks. Nicole was finishing well. Even when Vic(toria Kenyon) got in there, she was going hard and being aggressive.”
“When our inside game is really aggressive like that it really opens it up for the perimeter.”
Manou has had the inside looks much of the season, except she had her difficulties making close shots. She made 7 of 9 shots against Washington State, and 20 of 31 over the last three games, after making just 3 of 17 shots the previous four games.
“They say shooters keep on shooting,” Manou said. “Layuppers keep on layupping, I guess.”
There was a pause as her teammates giggled before they burst out laughing when Manou blurted out, “Quote that.”
The next question focused on her free throw shooting, which considering her 1-of-6 effort from the charity stripe, Manou was now both eerily similar to the always humorous Shaquille O’Neal for free throw futility and ability to draw laughs.
“Call me Shaquille,” Manou said. “That’s the first thing I’m going to do (Saturday) – step on the free throw line. Focus – that’s all it is.”
Manou traded places for on-court effectiveness Saturday with Canepa. Even with one post player playing well, Oregon gave Cal, an NCAA Tournament team, boasting a potent frontline of Devanei Hampton and Ashley Walker.
Hampton and Walker are both juniors, so considering Oregon’s freshmen-heavy frontline and that they are only losing senior guard Chapdelaine, the fact the Ducks gave Cal everything they could handle is a positive sign going into next season.
Not to devalue the impact of Chapdelaine, whose experience was invaluable this season, but point guard Tamika Nurse is going to be a senior and Lilley and Cocks will be juniors. Also, Rita Kollo, a transfer from Oklahoma State, has practiced with the team all year and will be a redshirt senior.
The experience will be there in force, and Oregon has more freshmen arriving who will make an impact. The biggest negative of Oregon’s late flourish is that it didn’t happen earlier and allow them to experience the Women’s National Invitational Tournament.
At 14-17, Oregon’s season is over. Spring practice time will help. The value of more practices right now and more experience in a playoff environment would have been beneficial, but overall, the outlook has to be positive about the direction of the basketball program.
Smith has surrounded herself with a quality group of assistant coaches in Phil Brown, Willette White and Selena Ho who know how to recruit and help this team grow.
Oregon should have high expectations for next season, and anything less than an NCAA Tournament bid should be considered a disappointment. Smith, who reportedly has one year left on her contract, should have the chance to see this group through.
Any success Oregon achieves next season though is going to be tied to the positive momentum started this winter.
“We’ve had some down moments in the year, as we did in this ballgame, but this group has always bounced back and has always competed,” Smith said.
[email protected]