For the second year in a row, the Oregon women’s basketball team will take on Strakonice BBC, a club team from the Czech Republic, in an exhibition matchup today at 5 p.m. at McArthur Court.
This will be the second and last exhibition of the year for the Ducks, who are coming off a 75-23 win over Western Oregon.
The Strakonice BBC team is part of Basketball Travelers, Inc., a company that organizes tours and tournaments for college and high school teams. Strakonice is wrapping up a two-week tour of the western United States, playing eight schools — Arizona State, Northern Arizona, UC Santa Barbara, St. Mary’s, San Francisco, Fresno State, Oregon and Oregon State — along the way.
“They are a European club team, which means they are a little more experienced and older (than a college team),” Oregon head coach Bev Smith said. “They are very skilled and should be a good challenge for us.”
While Strakonice will present a different look for Oregon, the team is neither deep nor offensively dangerous. Strakonice has scored 70 or more points once during its trip and has not shot above 35 percent from the field in any of their games.
“They are more of a passing, slashing type of team,” Smith said. “They are more simplistic on offense and not as athletic as other
Division I college teams, but they should still be tough.”
Its top two scorers are Martina Hulkova, a 5-foot-9 forward, and Miroslava Vodrazkova, a 6-foot-4 center. Both Hulkova and
Vodrazkova have scored 17 points in a game and have been Strakonice’s top scorers in four of its six contests.
Strakonice center Jitka Musilova had a team-high 15 points against UCSB on Nov. 7.
For the Ducks, defense and shot selection will be the emphasis in the game.
“We have to work on not talking about the outcome (during the game),” Smith said. “We’re looking to be more consistent on defense and to have better shot selection. We can’t have as many three-pointers (as we did last time).”
Oregon went 5-21 behind the arc against Western Oregon, with junior Chelsea Wagner connecting on three of them, while Brandi Davis had the other two. The Ducks attempted 15 three-pointers in the first half, compared to six in the second.
From the floor, the Ducks went 32-63 (50.8%) and were paced by senior center Andrea Bills. Bills went a perfect 5-of-5 from the field and 2-of-6 from the free-throw line and led the team in points with 12. Senior Cathrine Kraayeveld was the only other Duck in double figures in points with 10 and tied for the lead for rebounds with a game-high nine.
Oregon doubled up Western Oregon in rebounding, collecting a total of 50 boards compared to the Wolves’ 24 boards for the game.
Freshman post player Gabrielle Richards also made her presence felt against Western Oregon, scoring nine points and gathering nine boards in 14 minutes of action.
Free throws were the biggest
problem for the Ducks, converting just 6-of-15.
“We have got to work on getting to the free-throw line and then shooting better (from the line),” Smith said.
The Ducks beat Strakonice last year 80-69 behind senior Corrie Mizusawa’s 15 assists and Kraayeveld’s 20 points. For Strakonice, Musilova had 18 points.

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