Saturday’s loss to Washington provided a window to the soul for Oregon’s bench.
When point guard Corrie Mizusawa, who has started all 24 games for the Ducks, played limited minutes because of a knee injury, senior Kayla Steen found her opportunity to step in at the point.
Steen, Oregon’s returning assists leader, played 22 minutes Saturday — 12 more than her season average — and contributed three points, five rebounds and three assists.
“Kayla Steen came in and played very well and was very gritty for us,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith said. “She got some boards for us and really took over when we needed her in replacement of Corrie.”
Mizusawa matched Steen’s three assists in her 15 minutes on the court, playing four minutes in the second half. By the 10-minute mark of the second period, Mizusawa had her warm-up jersey back on and had taken a seat toward the far end of the bench.
Despite limited minutes against Washington, the transfer junior moved up another spot on Oregon’s single-season assists list. With four regular-season games and the Pacific-10 Conference tournament remaining, Mizusawa is No. 4 all-time with 157. She passed associate head coach Allison McNeill’s 151 assists to move up on the list.
Mizusawa played 27 minutes against Washington State on Thursday in addition to her 15 on Saturday, both below her season average of 32.5 per game.
“Corrie has been diagnosed with a small meniscule tear and a bone bruise (on her left knee),” Smith said Monday. “We want the bone bruise to have time to heal, but she’ll have to play through the meniscule tear.”
The meniscus tear is the same injury that guard Chelsea Wagner plays on right now. Wagner’s left knee is drained regularly and the sophomore wears a brace on her knee in games and practices. Smith said that once Mizusawa’s bone bruise heals that the meniscus tear will be evaluated for a course of rehabilitation and work, possibly similar to what Wagner goes through with her knee.
Mizusawa played against both Washington schools with a brace on her knee after initially suffering the injury on Feb. 7 against Oregon State.
“Corrie’s our transition point guard,” guard Brandi Davis said. “I know if I run the floor like I’m supposed to, she’s going to get the ball to me or whoever else runs the floor. I think that not having Corrie hurt us a little bit, but I really feel that Kayla Steen came up and stepped up to the challenge tonight. She did a great job.”

Forwards have roller coaster homestand
Against Washington State on Thursday, starting forwards Eleanor Haring and Kedzie Gunderson shot a combined 65 percent, leading the Ducks with 16 and 13 points, respectively.
Haring, specifically, had talked during the week leading up to Saturday’s rematch against Washington about wanting to make sure that the Ducks weren’t on the receiving end of another 45-point thumping.

“I think (Haring) just missed some good shots,” Smith said. “I think that excitement maybe just caused some overanxiety on her part.”
Haring opened the first half with six-consecutive missed shots before finally hitting her seventh attempt with 2:49 left in the half.
“She missed some shots and it didn’t go her way,” Smith said. “She was 1 for 8 in the first half and I think had she gotten off to a better start it certainly would have given them some different defensive problems.”
The freshman from Australia finished the game 3 for 13 after going 2 for 5 in the second half. Gunderson was 0-for-2 in Saturday’s game and fouled out of her first game this season.

Guards work Mendiola sisters
For the first 29 minutes of Saturday’s game, Wagner and Mizusawa played ferocious defense on Washington’s top player: Giuliana Mendiola.
“We just stayed in front of her,” Smith said. “We really tried to make everything difficult for her. Our whole team did a very good job just coming off screens, making sure they were there, bumping here, just keeping her a little bit off her game. Perhaps near the end she stepped up a bit.”
Mendiola had four points in the first 29 minutes and 18 points in the final 11 minutes.