Danielle Love has an important role in the Oregon women’s basketball team’s press defense.
The freshman from Everett, Wash., plays center for the Ducks and is assigned to guard the inbounds passer. Love, one of three freshmen to have started Oregon’s past three games, is still learning the intricacies of her role in practice.
“At first I was just mirroring (the inbounds passer),” Love said. “(Head coach Paul Westhead) tells me, ‘You’ve gotta get into them and make them be scared of you.’”
Love then mimics Westhead showing her the correct form: knees bent, posterior low, arms spread wide, facial expression intense. She’s a dead ringer.
“He says it to me every single day,” she said.
Love, Deanna Weaver and Ariel Thomas were inserted into the starting lineup by Westhead against Washington State Feb. 5 in an attempt to counteract a three-game losing streak. That streak has now run to six games, equalling two losing streaks from the 2008-09 season and the longest since last season’s seven-game streak.
Oregon (12-12, 3-10 Pacific-10 Conference) was held to 48 or fewer points eight times over the course of that 2008-09 season. The Ducks were held to 48 points for the first time in Westhead’s two-year tenure in a loss Thursday to UCLA.
“It’s really hard to come to practice every day knowing you’re on a six-game losing streak,” senior Nicole Canepa said.
Thomas, starting in place of the injured Nia Jackson, led the Ducks in scoring against USC (16 points) and put up a career-high 19 points against Washington State. Jackson, hampered by knee injuries suffered against Washington, has been limited in practice and is questionable at best for Saturday’s Civil War.
“No change in Nia Jackson’s status,” Westhead said Tuesday. “I’m hopeful that it’ll become day-to-day. It’ll be a good sign.”
Love, for her part, tied for the team lead in rebounds with Amanda Johnson with eight against the Women of Troy on Saturday, an 85-63 loss.
“My defense has stepped up. I’m blocking out and rebounding more,” Love said. “I need to find my offensive role for the team, to produce more offensively.
“Against UCLA, I didn’t rebound well at all. Against USC, I rebounded better. I was more aggressive.”
The new starters have brought a necessary aggression despite a lack of results.
“The new group is handling the defense easier than the offense because the defense is just reads and quickness,” Westhead said. “The offensive part, not as good, and I’d say it’s because of how valuable Nia Jackson is. She makes everybody’s offense better.”
Among the more experienced players, there have been no hard feelings. They, too, seek a return to winning ways as quickly as possible.
“Change is good. The coaches have been looking for a spark (and) the freshmen are doing well,” Canepa said. “People do understand (why the changes were made). It was something that was addressed, and people understand.”
Still, Oregon remains a team with fundamental flaws. The offense has sputtered — the Ducks are shooting just 39.7 percent from the field — and rebounding has gone largely missing. Oregon is last in the Pac-10 in rebounds allowed.
“We kind of struggle with boards,” Canepa said. “They can make or break a game.”
Suffice it to say, the Ducks have not gotten into opponents’ heads. Making them be scared takes on greater importance Saturday.
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Westhead attempts to end losing streak with lineup change
Daily Emerald
February 16, 2011
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