The Oregon women’s basketball team is in Los Angeles for games against USC (Thursday, 7 p.m.) and UCLA (Saturday, 1:30 p.m.) after a successful McArthur Court home stand against the Washington schools.
The Ducks (11-4, 2-2 Pacific-10 Conference) earned their first two conference victories over the Cougars and Huskies in the final basketball games ever to be played at Mac Court. Point guard Nia Jackson won Pac-10 Player of the Week honors after averaging 22.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 5.0 steals in the two games.
Jackson leads the Pac-10 in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.9. She is also second in assists per game (5.7) and tied for second in steals per game (2.9).
USC (10-4, 2-1 Pac-10) carries a 5-0 Galen Center record into its game against Oregon. The Women of Troy, led by junior guards Briana Gilbreath and Ashley Corral, are receiving votes in the Associated Press poll.
No. 10 UCLA’s (13-1, 3-0) only loss came at the hands of LSU, 55-53, on Dec. 28 at Pauley Pavilion. Junior forward Jasmine Dixon (11.8 points per game) and senior guard Darxia Morris (11.2) are the Bruins’ scoring leaders.
Last season, Oregon was swept by UCLA as the Bruins cruised to a 104-80 victory at home in the first contest and beat the Ducks 91-75 in Eugene in late February. Oregon split last season series with USC, however, winning 85-77 in Los Angeles before falling 87-84 at home in the second the teams’ second meeting.
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