The Oregon women’s basketball team started its 2010-2011 season with a 110-70 win over Western Oregon on Saturday.
In front of an announced 1,573 fans at McArthur Court, the Ducks went on a 22-7 run to open the game and never looked back.
All 14 of Oregon’s healthy players saw game action. Amanda Johnson led the Ducks with scoring on 9 of 19 shooting in only 19 minutes of play. Johnson also chipped in a team-high 11 rebounds and three assists.
In her Oregon debut, junior college transfer Ashley Buis scored 14 points on 6 of 10 shooting. She was 2-for-4 from three-point range.
True freshmen Deanna Weaver and Ariel Thomas also impressed, scoring 16 and 15 points, respectively.
Guard Jamie Richardson led Western Oregon in scoring with a 20-point performance.
As a team, Oregon shot 46.4 percent from the field and limited the Division II Wolves to 30.6 percent shooting. The Ducks out-rebounded Western Oregon 65-33.
Oregon will continue the non-conference portion of its schedule on Friday when the Ducks travel to Southern California to take on Long Beach State. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
— Andy Drukarev
Oregon sophomore Cliff Harris was named Pacific-10 Conference player of the week on special teams, conference officials announced Monday.
The Fresno, Calif., native scored one of Oregon’s two touchdowns in a narrow 15-13 victory over California on Saturday afternoon, which came on a 64-yard punt return to the end zone. The scoring return was Harris’ fourth this season, tying former Cal receiver DeSean Jackson (2006) for the Pac-10 single-season record.
For his efforts on Saturday, Harris was also named national punt returner performer of the week by the College Football Performance Awards.
This is the third time Harris has been honored as Pac-10 player of the week in 2010. He also took home special teams accolades after week one, and then again for his defensive efforts during week five. With his three weekly awards, Harris has now joined former Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon as the only players in Oregon history to take home the honor three times in a season.
In his first full season as a return man, the sophomore’s four return touchdowns is equal to that of Keenan Howry’s (1999-02) Oregon career record, and also leads the NCAA in that category. For a primarily defensive player, Harris ranks fourth on the No. 1 Oregon squad in all-purpose yards with 770 and fifth in scoring with 30 points.
His five non-offensive touchdowns on the year are the most ever by an Oregon player in a single season and tie Walter Thurmond III’s (2006-09) career mark.
Harris has continued to build on his national resume this season after being named a midseason All-American, according to SI.com, at both cornerback (first team) and punt returner (second team). The semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, leads the country in punt return average (23.21) and ranks third nationally with 1.50 passes defended per game. He also leads the Pac-10 with five interceptions on the year.
During the bye week, the Ducks resumed practice Monday and will also meet on Wednesday and Friday before starting game week preparations Sunday. Oregon will match up with the Arizona Wildcats (7-3, 4-3 Pac-10) on Friday, Nov. 27, which will mark Oregon’s final home game of the 2010 season.
— Lucas Clark
With less than two months remaining before the BCS National Championship game, donors to the Duck Athletic fund and Oregon season-ticket holders have been notified that they can begin the process of applying for bowl game tickets. According to Rob Moseley of The Register-Guard, tickets for the national title game are being priced at $345.
Moseley also reported that Oregon’s allotment of tickets to the title game in Glendale, Ariz., is only 17,000 tickets, which is nearly 15,000 fewer than last season’s allotment for the Rose Bowl. The University of Phoenix Stadium, where the BCS national championship will be held on the evening of Jan. 10, 2011, seats only 63,400 spectators, more than 30,000 less than the Rose Bowl’s 95,000.
— Lucas Clark
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Weekend sports roundup
Daily Emerald
November 14, 2010