In a year of turmoil and bad luck for the Oregon women’s basketball team, one thing could be said.
If anything, the Ducks had a year to grow up. A year that produced tears, sweat, broken noses and shattered hopes. But it also produced a group of forwards that could very well become the Pacific-10 Conference standard next year, if not for longer than that.
The group — junior Cathrine Kraayeveld, sophomore Andrea Bills and freshmen Carolyn Ganes and Yadili Okwumabua — may have been hit the hardest this year. This is especially so because of Kraayeveld’s staph infection that kept her out of the team’s first 13 Pac-10 contests.
“I think (missing the postseason) is a break we’re going to need,” Kraayeveld said. “It’s going to be nice to have a break, but we are still disappointed.”
Statistically, the group produced solid figures. Kraayeveld led the team in scoring at 14.5 points per game, although that was an average of just 15 games. Ganes was close behind at 10.5, although she did score 13.5 points per game during the Pac-10 season.
Bills wasn’t the scoring machine she was projected to be after a monster freshman season, but she posted 9.8 points per game, and was solid down low, averaging 6.8 rebounds per game.
Of the group, Okwumabua produced the lowest figures, but ultimately, she proved to be the most athletic forward. She averaged just two points a game, but was used more often late in the season.
“I liked the way I’ve been playing, especially in the last few games,” Bills said after Oregon lost, 71-58, to UCLA in the Pac-10 Tournament Saturday. “It was a struggle dealing with all the stuff that’s been happening this season, but I’m just going to take my intensity and just work on stuff over the summer.”
On a team that loses just two players to graduation — Alissa Edwards and Kourtney Shreve — the forwards will be the most seasoned next year. Kraayeveld should have been an All-American candidate this year, and was before her injury.
Bills is showing promise, the kind that could lead to an All Pac-10 team award soon. Ganes could step into Kraayeveld’s spot when the Kirkland, Wash., native graduates after next season. And
Okwumabua may not start on a regular basis while at Oregon, but could easily step into a pivotal bench role.
“I look forward to a lot of things next season,” Bills said. “We have more big people coming in. As long as everybody stays healthy next season, we should be ready to compete.”
The new forward Bills spoke of is 6-foot-6-inch Portland native Jessica Shetters. She will become the second-tallest player in program history, and should be valuable off the bench, although it will undoubtedly be in a learning role.
It was a long year for the Ducks, and an especially longer one for the forwards. With Kraayeveld out, that group turned into a three-player rotation. That’s not easy.
But let’s let Kraayeveld tell how it was.
“It did seem like one thing, and then we got over that, and then there was one more thing,” Kraayeveld said. “Finally, we were all healthy, and then somebody else (got hurt). We tried to push through that and not focus on it and do what we could.”