The way Taylor Lilley explains it, youth can be a good thing.
The talent and enthusiasm paired with experienced guards can be a combo she says makes the Oregon women’s basketball team capable of pushing for a spot in the upper half of the Pacific-10 Conference and a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
“We’re going to be fresh and we’re going to be new but we’re just going to be feisty when we’re out there,” Lilley said.
Senior guard Kaela Chapdelaine seconds that idea. Freshmen Nicole Canepa and Tatianna Thomas both say March Madness is attainable. An Oregon team dominated by seniors last season has been replaced by team with a youthful optimism this fall.
“We are trying to finish in the top half of the Pac-10, preferably fourth,” Thomas said. “We are trying to make it to the tournament.”
Oregon welcomes six new freshmen to the team this year. Much of the youth will help the Ducks’ need for height, with four of those newcomers 6-foot-2 or taller.
Along with that height comes inexperience. Oregon’s two exhibition games offered a contrast of the freshmen’s potential and the experience of Oregon’s guards. In the first game, the Ducks hosted Western Oregon and the four young posts – Nicole Canepa, Ellyce Ironmonger, Ellie Manou and Victoria Kenyon – combined for 40 points on 18-of-31 shooting and 28 rebounds against a small team with only one player taller than 6-foot.
Two days later, Oregon welcomed Love & Basketball, a traveling team of Southern California residents, most of whom have played college basketball. This time, Oregon relied on the experience it has at the guard position while the posts recorded a more humble stat line of 22 points on 8-of-28 shooting and 25 rebounds.
“We were such a new team that exhibition games were so necessary for us because we do have six freshmen and they needed to see what it was like to play college basketball before they played a regular season (game) and we needed to see what it was like to play again after five months of playing ourselves,” point guard Tamika Nurse said.
Lilley provided scoring when the offense stuttered in the first half, often making three-pointers as the shot clock wound down. Struggling inside, Oregon took 27 three-pointers, making 11.
When Love & Basketball tied the score on a late three-pointer and forced overtime, instead of crumbling, Oregon responded. The Ducks overcame a four-point overtime deficit and with four points from Nurse in the closing minutes, won 73-69.
“It was really good to get into overtime, get into a game that was on the line and show ourselves that we could pull out that win,” Nurse said.
Of Oregon’s new posts, coach Bev Smith relied on Canepa late in the game. She drew a foul and made two free throws for a 59-55 lead. Two possessions later, Canepa missed a shot, grabbed her own rebound and drew a foul on her second shot attempt.
“I think our team feels very comfortable giving her the ball and she can step out and go by people or she can post up and get the ball inside,” Smith said. “I really like that presence with her and I like her presence defensively.
“She’s a very balanced player. She doesn’t get too high or too low – she keeps a very strong focus and for a freshman that’s uncommon.”
The experience in the backcourt though is big, Nurse says. With Lilley, Chapdelaine, Nurse and Micaela Cocks, the guards could be the difference in building on the team’s Women’s National Invitational Tournament appearance last spring and making Oregon’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in three years.
Cocks, who showed her scoring potential with 14 points at Oregon State in January, is expected to play point guard, shooting guard and small forward this season after sticking at the guard spot last season. She gave a preview of her skills on offense against Western Oregon with 14 points, including 4-of-6 shooting from three-point territory.
“She is really shooting the ball well,” Smith said. “She’s balanced. She knows when she can shoot it, even if someone’s in her face. She knows if they are not playing up on her, she can drain that.”
Freshman forward Thomas, who has had her transition to Division I basketball slowed by a minor car accident and sat out both exhibition games, played with Taylor for a season at Hart High in Newhall, Calif. and offers the perspective of someone who’s seen her friend’s game then and now.
“She’s added so many things to her game where she can drive, she can pull up, she’s an unbelievable passer,” Thomas said. “She has developed into all-around player that can do everything.”
Lilley spent the off-season working on extending her already extensive shooting range and working on her dribble jumper so she can diversify her game. Taylor tied Carolyn Ganes for the team-high in three-pointers in 2006-07 with 39.
But how far back can Lilley shoot the ball?
“Pretty far,” she said. “I worked a lot on it during spring and summer so I feel pretty comfortable back there.”
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