The Oregon women’s basketball team scored 109 points in both of its exhibition games, an encouraging sign after scoring 56.6 points per game in the Ducks’ 30 official games last season. First-year head coach Paul Westhead has quickly endeared himself to the Oregon fan base with his up-tempo playing style, and his players are growing more and more accustomed to it every day.
Forty miles away in Corvallis, the Oregon State Beavers scoff at the Ducks’ offensive output. At least, they should.
The Beavers have had just as successful an exhibition season, if not more so. On Nov. 2, Oregon State dismantled Concordia (Ore.) 113-35, behind 23 points from sharpshooting guard Talisa Rhea and 20 points from freshman guard Haiden Palmer. The Beavers followed that up a week later with a 103-25 win over Lewis & Clark, with six Oregon State players scoring in double figures. This offensive output is all the more impressive considering that the Beavers lost the leading scorers in 23 of their 32 games in 2008. Only Rhea (leading scorer in nine games) remains as the offense’s most potent threat.
You may recall that last year, the Oregon Ducks were swept by their in-state rivals for the first time since the 1992-93 season, a fact that no doubt contributed to the eventual dismissal of Bev Smith. The Ducks held a 4-4 record in Pacific-10 Conference play heading into the season series opener, held on Jan. 31 at McArthur Court. With a roster at full strength (save Nicole Canepa, who suffered an ankle injury a couple weeks before), Oregon fell 61-42 at home. It was the largest margin of defeat for the Ducks in a home Civil War contest.
Things didn’t get any better at Gill Coliseum on Feb. 28. Entering the game with a 9-17 record (5-10 Pac-10), Oregon was no longer playing for anything but pride, and Smith was coaching her last games. The Ducks put up a good fight against a rowdy crowd of 3,507, but since-graduated guards Mercedes Fox-Griffin and Brittney Davis knifed through Oregon’s defense at will. The Ducks scored just 10 points in the second half — the second time that happened last season — in a 70-41 defeat. The 29-point margin of victory represented Oregon State’s largest since 1975.
The women’s basketball Civil War is not the most notable contest in the ongoing rivalry, and it had been fairly one-sided in the Ducks’ favor. All that has changed over the course of last season. The Beavers also seem to have staying power: Oregon State’s starting lineup in both exhibition games featured two sophomores, a freshman and a junior college transfer. The three seniors on the Beavers’ roster are all substitutes.
Westhead has surely received an early education on Oregon State, and why this rivalry matters. Beating Oregon State means a lot to the Ducks, and it meant a lot last year when they lost both games.
This season’s Civil War contests take on a greater meaning in the scope of the program, which is part of the reason why Westhead was hired in the first place. Former athletic director Pat Kilkenny’s unofficial mandate from last year stipulated that Oregon coaches must have their teams in the upper half of the Pac-10 Conference. The Ducks have a lot of work to do to get there.
Stanford is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the conference, with Cal and Arizona State close behind. The two Los Angeles schools figure to separate themselves from the rest of the pack this season, as well. If any two schools have a shot at upsetting the balance of power in the Pac-10, it’s the Oregon schools.
Unsurprisingly, the two schools will act as polar opposites this season. Oregon State head coach LaVonda Wagner preaches defense and discipline; Westhead preaches speed, speed and more speed. Oregon State will be more content to beat you in the half-court, Oregon through the fast break.
The Ducks are likely the more talented team, based on the personnel Oregon State lost last season, but surpassing the Beavers is a necessary hurdle in fulfilling team goals. The Civil War has suddenly become more important, more meaningful, yet again.
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Ducks have to keep pace with Beavers
Daily Emerald
November 11, 2009
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