Jessica Shetters was frustrated.
The 6-foot-6 Oregon freshman was trying everything she could to slow Oregon State’s Brina Chaney Saturday, but it was to no avail. The 6-foot-5 Beaver center had her way with Shetters — and everyone else who tried to defend her — to the tune of a career-high 31 points.
With 6:26 remaining in the second half, Shetters’ frustration peaked when she was whistled for her fifth foul in six minutes.
Shetters reached out and appeared to block Chaney’s shot attempt. When the whistle sounded, however, a look of disgust and disbelief covered the face of the Portland native as she realized she had just fouled out.
Oregon head coach Bev Smith said rough nights are just part of the maturing process that is being a freshman in the Pacific-10 Conference.
“If you look at where Chaney was four years ago as a freshman, I’m not sure that she was that much further ahead of (where Shetters is now),” Smith said. “In fact, I think Jessie has a little bit of a step on (Chaney).
“To get her to understand what it means to play against a player who is 6-foot-5, and how you can play, I think it’s the best lesson that Jessie can have.”
For Shetters, the competition she faces in the Pac-10 is light years ahead of what she faced while playing for Portland’s Wilson High School.
“In high school, I didn’t really play against anyone close to my height,” Shetters said. “Playing against someone like Brina — she’s definitely a very good basketball player — definitely inspires me to work harder.”
In 18 games, Shetters is averaging 2.9 points and 2.3 rebounds per contest.

Slow start
An all too familiar problem reared its ugly head Saturday.
Oregon (11-11 overall, 3-9 Pac-10) had been hampered by slow starts earlier in the season, but had appeared to solve the problem of late.
Saturday in Corvallis, however, the Beavers outscored the Ducks 16-2 in the game’s first five minutes, essentially sealing Oregon’s fate before the Ducks could break a sweat.
Oregon State guard Shannon Howell said Oregon’s starting five looked tired and sluggish during the Beavers’ run.
“Once we got ahead 16-2, you could see it on their faces,” Howell said after the game. “They looked tired. We were like, ‘Oh, look at them, they’re tired. Let’s go at them some more.’”
Oregon forward Eleanor Haring said there was no reason for the Ducks’ miserable start.
“I don’t really know what happened. We just came out flat,” Haring said. “There’s no excuses. We weren’t tired.”
Oregon battled back to cut the Beaver lead to single digits in the second half, but never overcame the 14-point hole it dug for itself early in the first half.
Along with the slow start, the Ducks were out-rebounded 37-28 and had more turnovers (15) than assists (13).
Smith said she was disappointed by the loss after the Ducks seemed to improve during the last two weeks.
“I think it is a little bit of a step backwards,” Smith said. “It’s disappointing in the sense that we had really made some progress.”

Payback in order
Oregon will get a chance to avenge its 95-50 loss to Washington on Jan. 15 at Bank of America Arena when the Huskies come to McArthur Court Saturday.
The loss was the third-worst in school history, trumped by a 65-point loss to Oregon State and a 50-point loss to Western Washington in 1975.
The Ducks shot 30 percent for the game, were out-rebounded 56 to 32 and allowed five Huskies to score double figures.
Haring, who finished with eight points on 3-of-11 shooting in the loss, said she can’t wait to get another shot at Washington.
“I can’t really speak for the other girls, but I’m definitely looking to attack this weekend,” Haring said. “I really want to get the win.”