It was a battle of the big women, set in the middle of McArthur Court.
It was a war reminiscent of that in the NBA between the Spurs’ “Twin Towers” and Shaquille O’Neal.
And as Oregon’s version of the Towers, freshman Carolyn Ganes and sophomore Andrea Bills were introduced to Arizona’s version of Shaq — Shawntinice Polk.
Prior to Saturday’s matchup between Oregon and Arizona, Polk ranked first in the Pacific-10 Conference in rebounding and field goal percentage, and second in scoring and blocked shots.
The 6-foot-5-inch center leads the Wildcats in almost every statistical category, as she averages 17.3 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game.
“She is just a very, very impressive presence on the floor,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith said. “She knows her strengths and how she can score and has a great deal of confidence. Defensively, she can do some things as well, and our best defense was to just attack her.”
And in front of 4,126 fans at McArthur Court, the battle was won by Polk. She finished the afternoon with 23 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots. It was the 15th double-double of the season for the freshman, which ties the school record set in 1982.
But Ganes and Bills made nothing easy for the Wildcats on either end, and the war was on for the entire 40 minutes.
“I had to work for everything and I was going up against some great post players,” Polk said. “Playing against them has given me a lot of experience and they did not give me anything easy.”
“It is a war,” Arizona head coach Joan Bonvicini said. “Ganes is a great player and she is really tough.”
Ganes took quite a beating from Polk, garnering three fouls, yet had a solid performance of her own. The 6-foot-3-inch freshman shot 6-for-12 from the field en route to 15 points and seven rebounds in her 26 minutes.
Bills had a strong first half but couldn’t repeat in the second and finished with eight points and eight rebounds.
The bulk of the battle was waged in the last 20 minutes, and Polk set the pace, scoring a quick seven points to start the second half.
After a blocked shot by Bills, Polk ran the length of the floor to get the ball in the post, where she converted and was fouled to make it a three-point play.
“Going into the game, our focus was to try and somewhat shut down number zero-zero,” Ganes said. “She is an excellent player and when she gets inside, there is not too much you can do about it.”
The war was officially on.
After an intense battle on both ends, with time winding down, Polk delivered a dagger with 52 seconds left to give the Wildcats a four point lead.
But Oregon had some fire power of its own.
On the other end, Ganes grabbed an offensive rebound with just more than 30 seconds left to play, and converted while getting fouled. Her foul shot was right on the money to bring Oregon within one point.
The battle ended after that free-throw.
The damage had been done.
Polk and the Wildcats won the battle this time, but the war is far from over. With Polk and Ganes just freshmen and Bills a sophomore, the ground work is in place for it to become a war for the ages.