It was a physical, low-scoring encounter. But the Oregon women’s basketball team got it done against Washington State, defeating the Cougars in a 51-34 showdown last night at Beasley Coliseum in Pullman, Wash.
“Defensively, we knew it’d be a battle tonight, and I have to compliment the team on the tough defense we played without fouling a lot,” Oregon coach Bev Smith said. “When we’re playing defense like that, it puts us in a position to win any game.”
The Ducks ran to a 6-0 lead in the first half before the Cougars managed to get on the board.
But then things got a little tighter, as Washington State went on a 5-0 run to cut the lead to one. The teams exchanged points before the Ducks pulled to a 19-11 lead to end the first half.
“We settled too much for the outside shot in the first half,” Smith said in a broadcast interview. “We shot 10 three-pointers. We were playing to what they wanted us to do.”
The second half went a little smoother for Oregon once senior forward Eleanor Haring got her game going. Haring finished the night with 11 points, eight of which came in the second half.
“In the second half we had to get the ball inside and El stepped up,” said Smith, who also singled out senior guard Cicely Oaks and junior guard Kaela Chapdelaine for special mention.
Oaks finished the night shooting 5-of-11 and contributing a team-high 12 points. She also pulled down four rebounds.
Chapdelaine had a career-high eight rebounds, but as Smith pointed out, was so dominating around the board that “she must have had her hands on about 15 others.”
The aggression with which both teams went at each other manifested itself in 17 total personal fouls for Washington State and 16 for the Ducks.
“This was one of the most physical games I’ve been in so far, but we’re road warriors, so we just get to it” Oaks said. “People underestimate Washington State but they’re always gonna come out and play hard.”
The win puts the Ducks in excellent position to clinch sixth place in the Pac-10, especially with UCLA falling to Stanford. If the Ducks win their final game against the Huskies, they will take sixth place regardless of the result of the California vs. UCLA game on Saturday.
Injured Duck Jessie Shetters is slowly making a comeback from injury: She saw several minutes of play in the Ducks’ Senior Day defeat to Stanford last weekend, and played seven minutes in Pullman.
Oregon next takes on Washington on Saturday in a game that gives the Ducks (16-11 overall, 8-9 Pacific-10 Conference) a chance to finish the season with an even Pac-10 record.
“That would be really important to us,” Smith said. “We’re going to have to stop a dangerous Washington team that has its rhythm back and is firing on all pistons.
“Our post players really have to start taking down those defensive rebounds. It’s gonna be tough if we can’t keep (the Huskies) off the boards.”
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Airtight defense vaults Oregon to victory lane in Pullman
Daily Emerald
February 22, 2007
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