The Oregon women’s basketball team will take on two of its toughest nonconference opponents this season in Illinois and Portland State at home this weekend. The contest against the Fighting Illini will present the team with its first opportunity to take on a big-conference school this fall.@@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=236&SPSID=4304@@
“(Illinois) is an important game in the process,” head coach Paul Westhead said. “We’re playing a Big Ten team, so that certainly speaks of the quality players and performance they’ll bring here. So we’ll need to be ready for that level sooner than normal.”
Illinois ended last season with a record of 9-23, but the team’s entire starting five returns for 2011-12. The Fighting Illini’s number one scoring weapon is junior forward Karisma Penn, who’s averaging 15.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game after being named second team All-Big Ten last season. Illinois will have another dominant inside presence in sophomore forward Kersten Magrum, who missed the majority of last year with a stress fracture in her foot. This year she’s putting up 13.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.
Westhead knows that containing Magrum and Penn will be a tough challenge for a relatively undersized Oregon squad. That being said, he says his players will battle and push the pace in an effort to take away the inside game.
“They’re a good rebounding team and strong,” Westhead said. “You better be able to move quickly because otherwise they’ll push around and move you where they want you to go. They have some good inside offense, which is always a problem for everybody.”
The Ducks have nine underclassmen on their roster and are definitely still learning to play at the lightning-quick pace demanded by Westhead. The team’s last contest, a 102-93 win over Cal Poly, gave the squad an opportunity to see how much it has progressed and where there is room for improvement.@@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=236&SPSID=4305@@ @@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=236&SPSID=4304@@
“I thought the Cal Poly game was a great game and they really pushed us and showed some of our weaknesses,” freshman forward Lexi Petersen said. “And I think that we need to run every time … and just work hard every minute we’re out there.”@@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=236&SPSID=4305@@
Considering that the Ducks allowed Cal Poly to corral 20 offensive rebounds in their last game, there’s some likelihood that Oregon’s younger players are still growing into their roles. Fellow freshman Jordan Loera seconded Peterson’s belief that the emphasis will be on development during the next few weeks.@@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=236&SPSID=4305@@
“I think for the next two games, just those non-league games, we need to build on what we need to work on from last game,” Loera said. “I really don’t know much about Illinois. We just talked about what we need to work on for every game as far as just running more and faster and getting the rebounds.”
Portland State will come into Sunday night’s game undefeated (2-0) on the year. The Vikings begin the season as co-defending regular season champions in the Big Sky Conference and return three starters from last year’s title squad. Currently, senior guard Eryn Jones (19.5 ppg) and 2011 Big Sky Conference Newcomer of the Year Courtney VanBrocklin (18.0 ppg) lead Portland State in scoring.@@http://www.goviks.com/schedule.aspx?path=wbball@@ @@http://goviks.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/jones_eryn00.html@@ @@http://www.goviks.com/custompages/Statistics/Women%27s%20Basketball/2011-12/teamcume.htm@@
The Vikings started their season with wins over UC Irvine (80-76) and UC Santa Barbara (65-51) in Portland last weekend. Westhead, who is 5-0 during his tenure at Oregon against Big Sky competition, says freshmen will continue to play a big role for the Ducks this weekend.@@http://www.goviks.com/schedule.aspx?path=wbball@@
“It’s kind of interesting,” Westhead said. “Loera and Peterson, in particular, they’re not acting like freshmen. They’re playing very involved and know where they should be, not acting scared or like, ‘What am I doing here?’”
The game against Illinois is on Friday night at 7 p.m at Matthew Knight Arena. Oregon takes on Portland State on Sunday, also at 7 p.m.@@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=236&SPSID=4304@@
Oregon women’s basketball prepares to take on Illinois, Portland State this weekend
Daily Emerald
November 16, 2011
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