Senior Cathrine Kraayeveld scored 14 points against Portland Friday at McArthur Court.
The Oregon women’s basketball team hosts Southern University today for the first ever matchup between the two programs.
In a preseason poll, the Jaguars were selected to finish first in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Southern finished with a 17-13 overall record for the 2003-04 season and got knocked out in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Junior Rolanda Monroe and sophomore Fredrieka Lewis were picked as preseason first-team All-SWAC players.
Monroe was Southern’s leading scorer with 17.6 points per game, and she led the SWAC in steals last season.
Oregon head coach Bev Smith said that Monroe is “good one-on-one and handles the ball well.” Smith expects Monroe to be very aggressive with her perimeter shooting.
“She’s their go-to player, and it looks like she has the green light,” Smith said. “She is very dangerous and very quick.”
Southern will not hesitate to move the ball to other players as the team’s other two top scorers have returned.
“Last season Rolanda took about 17 or 18 shots a game, but this year she will look at 14 to 15 shots a game,” Southern head coach Sandy Pugh said. “Ashley (Blake) will also score for us, and we still have Fred (Lewis) in the middle that we can dish the ball to.”
Blake ranked sixth in the conference in scoring and third in rebounding last season as a freshman. The 5-foot-10 small forward was Southern’s second-leading shooter and point scorer.
Lewis was first for the Jaguars in field goal percentage and third in the conference.
The Jaguars (0-1 overall) lost their season opener last week against Northwestern State. Monroe scored 28 points in the loss.
Coach Smith said that her team’s size advantage will be beneficial once again as the Ducks have not been able to extensively scout Southern.
“With the little we know about them, we’ve just got to focus on ourselves,” Smith said. “We just want to maintain our defensive rebounding, execution and patience on offensive end and reverse ball to establish both the inside and outside game.
“Defensively, we all have contributions to make,” Smith said. “We have a number of weapons including Andrea (Bills) low and Cathrine (Kraayeveld) inside and out.”
Oregon (1-0) has held its opponents to an average field goal percentage of 26.9 in two exhibition games and last week’s non-conference contest against Portland.
Kraayeveld collected 14 points against the Pilots and has scored double-digits in each of the first three games.
Smith emphasized that the Ducks will need to aggressively spread their offense in order to create opportunities in the key.
“Our go-to players inside are Cat (Kraayeveld), ‘Dre (Bills) and (Gabrielle Richards) off the bench,” Smith said. “We have a very talented group at post. The game is won in the paint — on a pass or with penetration.”
