SAN JOSE, CALIF. – A full-strength Oregon women’s basketball team
with a desire to establish an inside presence advanced in the
Pacific-10 Conference Tournament with a 64-50 victory over Washington
in a quarterfinal game at HP Pavilion on Saturday.
The Ducks (20-8 overall, 13-6 Pac-10) have relied on their size all
season and their ability to find players down low.
Seniors Cathrine Kraayeveld and Andrea Bills, both All-Pac-10 Team
players, showcased their talents in the frontcourt and justified
their conference honors.
Kraayeveld, a 6-foot-4 forward, obliterated the Huskies’ defense with
a game-high 20 points on 7 of 12 shooting – 11 of those shots taken
from within the three-point line. The Kirkland, Wash., native added
10 rebounds for her ninth double-double of the season.
Bills also reached double figures in two categories for the fifth
time this season with 18 points and 10 rebounds. The starting center
made 8-of-11 shots from the field.
Freshman Gabrielle Richards added 10 points and seven rebounds.
“They understand who their go-to players are,” Washington head
coach
June Daugherty said. “A lot of the time you’re just going to count
on
your frontline, and that’s what they went to.”
Oregon’s guards had to rely on their big players inside.
“That was kind of the game plan,” Bills said. “We had our guards
outside looking for us and the posts inside were working really hard.
“We just wanted to hit Washington inside first so it would open up
the outside shots.”
But the Ducks made only two shots from the perimeter on 14 attempts.
“Our outside shots weren’t really falling and we figured that
out,”
Kraayeveld said. “When we posted up hard that gave up some
penetration opportunities.”
Smith said her team was successful inside because they were “seeing
pass pressure and understanding angles.”
Senior point guard Corrie Mizusawa took advantage of Washington’s
defense with seven assists for Oregon while Brandi Davis added a pair
of assists to go along with three points and five boards.
“I thought Brandi had a couple of really nice diagonal passes to our
posts,” Smith said.
As Bills and Kraayeveld sat in the press conference after the win,
they pointed out specific achievements on the statistic summary
sheet.
“I was just pointing out how we both had 10 rebounds,” Kraayeveld
said. “That’s been a focus for us all year and we work so hard to
try
to do that for our team.”
And it’s not the first time these two players have registered
identical figures in the rebounding column. Bills and Kraayeveld each
pulled down 15 boards in that monumental win against Stanford on Dec.
29 and they then grabbed 11 apiece against Oregon State on Feb. 5.
“Any time you get these two in double figures in rebounding, you
know
you have a great chance to win the game,” Smith said.
As a matter of fact, the Ducks are 4-0 this season when Kraayeveld
and Bills each turn in a double-double performance.
This has been the year of the seniors for Oregon, and appropriately
enough, it was the seniors that kept their final season alive. This
victory may have decided if the Ducks will be watching the NCAA
Tournament from the outside or the inside. It looks like they’ll be
on the inside this season.
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