The Oregon women’s basketball team hosts Oregon State Saturday in search of its first Pacific-10 Conference victory.
Standing in the Ducks’ way is a Beaver team looking for its first ever 4-1 start to conference play. Oregon State (9-4 overall, 3-1 Pac-10) has won seven of its last nine games, including three in a row in the Pac-10.
The most intriguing facet of Saturday’s 71st installment of the Civil War is how each team has been affected by single players. Oregon’s struggles with the loss of senior All-American candidate Cathrine Kraayeveld to a knee injury have been well documented. Oregon State, however, has benefited from the addition of Shannon Howell.
The junior transfer from Nebraska became eligible to play Dec. 27 due to NCAA Division I transfer rules. The 5-foot-9 guard averaged 22.5 points per game over her first four contests, including 32 points in a loss to then No. 9 Stanford in her first game back.
Since Howell became eligible, Oregon State is averaging 72.3 points per game, compared to 64.1 in nine games prior.
The Beavers have also been getting solid contributions from their trio of seniors in the starting lineup. Guard Leilani Estavan, forward Hollye Chapman and center Brina Chaney are all averaging more than eight points per game and supply teammates with leadership.
“The Beavers are very tough,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith said. “They’ve got a very experienced and veteran team. I think they’re on a mission as seniors.”
Oregon (8-6, 0-4) will need improvements in three main areas of its game if the Ducks are going to be competitive against Oregon State or anyone else in the conference, for that matter.
The first area of concern is rebounding. Oregon is averaging only 31.3 rebounds per conference game, while opponents have snatched 40.5 boards per contest.
“It just has to do with hard work,” freshman forward Jessica Shetters said. “We get into position sometimes but we don’t really push people out like we’re supposed to.”
The second order of business is the way Oregon handles pressure defense. The Ducks have struggled with turnovers when opponents have turned up the heat, including a blown 14-point second-half lead against UCLA Sunday.
“I don’t think that it’s the other team’s pressure that’s getting to us,” senior guard Kayla Steen said. “I think it’s our own mental mistakes that are getting us.”
Finally, the Ducks need to avoid getting off to a slow start. In four of its six losses, Oregon has buried itself in a first-half hole that it wasn’t able to crawl out of. The Beavers are 6-0 when leading at the half, magnifying the importance of a good start for the Ducks.
Even if Oregon rebounds, handles pressure well and gets off to a good start, beating the Beavers will still be a challenge. After being picked to finish eighth in the Pac-10 Preseason Coaches Poll, Oregon State is one game out of first place. Oregon, on the other hand, was picked to finish fourth but sits in a tie for last with Washington State.
Along with their impressive start, several Beavers are close to finding a place in team history. Estavan needs 40 assists and Chaney needs five blocks to become the all-time leaders at Oregon State in their respective categories. Also, Chapman is 45 points short and Estavan 63 of becoming the 13th and 14th players in team history to score 1,000 career points.
Shetters said the Ducks need to overcome their slow start if they are going to beat the talented Beavers.
“It’s in the past,” Shetters said. “Like the coaches said, we can’t do anything about 0-4, you just have to learn from it every game. You can’t dwell on the past or you’re not going anywhere.”
After Saturday’s game, Oregon is on the road for five of its next seven games. If the Ducks have any aspirations of an NCAA tournament bid, a win Saturday is essential.
“It’s a big game, but we just want to go out and make sure we have a lot of fun and treat it like any other game,” Steen said. “We’re not worried about who we’re playing. We just need to worry about getting done what we need to.”