The Oregon women’s basketball team has few ideas about what to expect from its next opponent. Nevada has only played two exhibition games.
Exhibition games, as Oregon (1-1) has shown, are more about improving the team than winning. Nevada plays its first official game today at Portland State before visiting McArthur Court Sunday at 1 p.m.
Oregon has had a week to recover from its loss to No. 21 Temple 51-46 last Saturday.
“It was very good for us to see exactly where we are with those top-25 teams,” guard Brandi Davis said. “They are a great ball club.”
Oregon defeated visiting St. Francis (Pa.) 80-30 in its season opener the night before.
Now, Oregon looks to gain momentum with three of the next four games at McArthur Court. The lone road game is in Portland on Tuesday night. With home games against Arkansas and Drake University, Oregon is looking to gain momentum before spending December on the road.
“It’s really a focus for us just to get into that rhythm while we’re comfortable at home so we can take that on our road trip,” Oregon’s 6-foot-6 center Jessie Shetters said.
Oregon is relying on a variety of players to start the season. Gabrielle Richards stood out with 19 and 20-point performances in the first two games. Oregon led by three with 2:36 left to play before Temple’s defense focused on Richards and used an 8-0 run to win 51-46.
“We relied on her heavily in the game and that is a slight disappointment for us,” Davis said. “We feel like we have other people that can get out there and score as well.”
Oregon had an opportunity to tie the game with less than 30 seconds on a three-point attempt by Chelsea Wagner. With no set go-to scorer, Oregon has several options on last second shots.
“In any game you always want to go to who is shooting well. … We definitely have a lot of players who can take that shot,” Kaela Chapdelaine said.
Oregon has seven players averaging five or more points per game and four players shooting better than .500 through two games.
The team is working on giving Shetters a larger role in the offense. With her large frame she is a strong rebounder, but she is working on shooting and adding a mid-range jump shot.
“I’m starting to learn how to get position, and that’s the first step,” Shetters said. “After that is actually taking the shot.”
The mid-range jump shot could take pressure off of a double-teamed Richards, Shetters said.
“It’s a really easy kick for (Richards),” Shetters said. “If I can get that open shot, it gives our team the advantage.”
Nevada has improved over last season, when the Wolfpack finished 8-22 and in 10th place in the Western Athletic Conference.
Sophomore guard Meghan McGuire averaged 13.2 points and made 32 three-pointers in 2004-05. In exhibition games against Bay Area Pro-Am and Sonoma State, McGuire scored 11 and 23 points, respectively.
Freshman newcomer Brandi Fitzgerald is a versatile player who can play point guard through the post positions. Evelina Janisyte is a 6-foot-5 community college transfer who can match the size of Shetters.
Oregon will again be tested in the post after facing Temple’s All-America candidate Candice Dupree last week.
Sabrina Keys, a 6-foot-2 forward, transferred from Purdue and is a physical player down low. She played sparingly for the Boilermakers and will gain more time at Nevada. She had 16 points and seven rebounds in Nevada’s first exhibition game and 10 points the second. While she hasn’t seen film yet, Davis said know Nevada is a trapping team and have been preparing for that in practice.

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