One by one, players expressed excitement at returning and playing within McArthur Court’s confines.
“It will be nice to play at Mac,” point guard Tamika Nurse said in an understatement. “Haven’t played there in a while.”
The Oregon women’s basketball team left Eugene for four straight road games two weeks ago with high hopes and aspirations of breaking into the top half of the Pacific-10 Conference.
Four consecutive losses later, the Ducks come home tired but buoyed by the thought of five of the next seven games at home. The team sits at 10-12 overall, 4-7 in the Pac-10.
“We’re ready to give these last seven games our best run and leave nothing behind and hopefully we do get to a postseason,” guard Kaela Chapdelaine said.
Oregon faces a stiff challenge with Stanford, second in the Pac-10, visiting tonight and California, first in the Pac-10, coming on Saturday.
In an unusual scheduling quirk, Stanford visited Santa Clara Tuesday night in a rare non-conference game during the Pac-10 season.
The traditional rivalry ended with a 96-74 thumping by the Cardinal, who made a season-best 13 three-pointers, and maybe most importantly, only played stars Candice Wiggins and Jayne Appel 21 and 23 minutes, respectively.
Stanford has been on a tear lately, winning eight straight games since dropping consecutive games in Los Angeles at the beginning of January. Six of the wins have been by 20 or more points.
Oregon, meanwhile, put together one of its best performances this season in a narrow, 52-51, defeat last Saturday against Arizona State.
Nurse, who had her potential game winning layup blocked, had 15 points and no turnovers as she continues to recover from a sprained left shoulder suffered at UCLA.
She took anti-inflammatory shots before each of the Arizona games, and says when it hurts, it makes it difficult to extend and push the ball in transition. On Tuesday, Nurse wore a patch on her left shoulder and said “it was OK on the weekend so it should be fine.”
“It’s not an injury that goes away, but (trainer) Tom (Embree) said some days it will feel fine or get hit and feel like I did it all over again, but not the kind of pain that sustains,” she said.
Nurse’s near-perfect performance Saturday coincided with Nicole Canepa and Ellie Manou’s reinsertion into the starting line-up. The last 10 games, Oregon had started Ellyce Ironmonger and Victoria Kenyon inside.
Coach Bev Smith made the switch, seeking a bigger presence on the boards, and the pair responded as Manou grabbed seven rebounds and Canepa six with a combined 22 points scored between them.
Canepa started for the first time since Dec. 19 when she suffered a sprained ankle.
She healed and upon her return in Pac-10 play came off the bench. Smith says there are benefits from learning from the sideline, and this switch can help Kenyon and Ironmonger.
“They seemed like they were wearing down a little bit in terms of their fatigue, in terms of all that has come at them,” Smith said. “That is a natural thing. It’s not a demotion by any means on their part.”
Canepa’s stats take a noticeable bump when she is in the starting lineup and averages 8.1 points and 5.4 rebounds when she opens games on the court and averages 4.1 points and 2.3 rebounds as a reserve.
“It felt natural to me, being out there, starting, getting right into the flow of the game at the beginning,” she said of the Arizona State game.
Oregon made a surge late last season, won six out of the Ducks last nine games and earned a berth in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament.
A split last weekend could have jump-started a run this season.
“That would have really helped us make some time up, but now it’s pretty clear what we have to do – we have to protect home court advantage,” Smith said.
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