The story of the women’s basketball exhibition game is one of David and Goliath — reversed. The larger Oregon team prevailed over Western Oregon’s undersized squad 75-23 in front of 2,948 fans Friday at McArthur Court.
The Ducks shot 32 of 63 (50.8 percent) from the field as they reversed the food chain and devoured the Wolves, a Division II team.
Junior Chelsea Wagner used the first possession of the game to drain a three-pointer for Oregon, the same way she began last week’s intra-squad scrimmage. Wagner made two shots from long distance in the first minute of the contest. She finished the night with nine points on 3 of 6 shooting, all from beyond the arc.
“We took a lot of first-look shots in the first half,” said Oregon coach Bev Smith, whose team made 5 of 21 from three-point range. “We need to work on getting the ball inside.”
Oregon’s Andrea Bills did not miss from the inside, nor from anywhere else, but she agreed that the Ducks needed to penetrate the paint more often.
“Everybody was looking for each other, but we need to be more aggressive and just take it to the hole,” senior center Bills said.
Bills finished 5 for 5 with a game-high 12 points. She pulled down seven rebounds but made only 2 of 6 free throws.
“I felt pretty good, but I have to get in the gym and shoot some more free throws because that isn’t where I wanted to be,” Bills said. “It was a strong game, and I am hoping to build on it.”
Free-throw shooting was the Ducks’ Achilles’ heal as they converted only six shots in 15 trips to the line.
“We have to get to the free throw line a lot more, and we have to shoot much better from the free-throw line,” Smith said.
Senior Cathrine Kraayeveld earned her points the hard way by taking more shots than any of her teammates. She went 5 of 9 from the floor for 10 points. Under the basket, she pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.
Senior Brandi Davis was Oregon’s other sharp-shooter and made an immediate impact off the bench as she scored two consecutive three-pointers after entering the game six minutes into it.
“I’m just taking on my role as that bench player that tries to be an offensive spark,” Davis, who finished with nine points, said. “If I have the shot, I’ll take it. If I have the lane, I’ll take it.”
No Oregon player was on the floor for more than 20 minutes, and everyone except Kaela Chapdelaine scored. The offense was distributed fairly evenly with Wagner, Davis and Gabrielle Richards each collecting nine points. Senior point guard Corrie Mizusawa kept the game fast-paced with a handful of exciting breakaways. She dished out six assists, scored four points and snagged two steals.
For the most part, the Ducks’ defense was nothing more than a size advantage. Height was an obvious and unavoidable obstacle for Western Oregon, which has no player taller than six feet on its roster.
Oregon continued to tune its zone defense and managed to grab 14 steals and six blocks. The Wolves were held to only six points in the paint.
“Sometimes it gets a little skewed, and we get offset,” Kraayeveld said. “If we just keep communicating it’s going to be a really effective defense this year.”
Junior Carolyn Ganes did not play. Coach Smith said that they have decided to redshirt Ganes so she can fully recover from ankle and back problems.

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