Slowing Down McFarland:
Colorado’s Jackie McFarland, who has averaged 20.4 points and 10.2 rebounds this season, was held to 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting Saturday. The 6-foot-3 junior ranked first in the Big 12 conference in field goal shooting percentage (66.7) and minutes played (35.8) before the loss.
Portland native Jessie Shetters, who was tasked to defend McFarland most of the evening, was convinced not to bite on the star’s bait.
“I just wanted to be real aggressive,” Shetters said. “The coaches talked to me about staying on my feet not falling for shot fakes or pump fakes or anything like that. That was a big focus for me was staying on my feet.”
McFarland may have fell short of her points average, but she was not denied on the glass. She pulled down game-highs of eight offensive rebounds and 15 total rebounds in the losing effort. McFarland played a team-high 38 minutes.
Shetters registered six points, six rebounds and three blocks Saturday. She is averaging nearly two blocks per game through seven contests. Coach Bev Smith said Shetters is one of the team’s finest defenders in the post because of her size, her quickness and, above all, her smarts.
“(Shetters) takes away angles on people,” Smith said. “She forces someone like McFarland to go to her second or third option rather than her first option and that gets frustrating over the course of 40 minutes.”
It’s Haring Time:
Eleanor Haring was named the player of the game Saturday after scoring a game-high 18 points and ripping down eight rebounds. The senior from Australia averaged 19 points per game against West Coast conference opponents this season. She scored a season-high 23 points against St Mary’s on Nov. 30 and is averaging over 12 points this season.
“I am just kind of going with the flow offensively and if the ball comes to me it comes to me,” Haring said.
Chapdelaine:
Sooner or later, junior Kaela Chapdelaine was going to break out of her shooting funk.
She has only averaged 3.7 points per game this season, but scored 16 points (two short of tying her career high) Saturday. Her shot may finally be coming around after spending countless hours in the gym trying to find it.
“I have been putting a lot of work in the gym and just taking more practice shots at game speed and tonight it worked out,” Chapdelaine said. “I am pretty happy about that.”
Coach Bev Smith said Chapdelaine looked confident Saturday and she said she wants her to keep shooting.
“She was important for us on the offensive end,” Smith said.
And Chapdelaine has carried her load on offense without even having to score-she is averaging five assists per game and dished out four dimes against the Buffaloes.
Big Leads:
Oregon (6-1 overall) jumped out a 16-2 lead in the first five minutes of play. It held its largest advantage of 18 points after a Carolyn Ganes bucket inside more than halfway through the second half, which drove up the scoreboard to 60-42.
Ugh, Finals:
Smith said she tried to keep things simple for the team during the treacherous finals week that concluded with the Pape Jam.
“We like them to come into the gym and have that be the best part of the day for them during finals and I think that is a release for them,” Smith said.
Smith said: “I give them a great deal of credit for doing the right thing in the classroom and getting that finals wrapped up and heading up here.”