The Ducks entered this season with what was believed to be a problem.
For the first time in a long time, Oregon’s roster was dominated by freshmen. Names like Amy Parrish, Kedzie Gunderson and Andrea Bills are plastered inside of the 2001-02 media guide.
Besides junior Shaquala Williams and seniors Edniesha Curry and Jamie Craighead, Oregon head coach Bev Smith really didn’t know who to turn to when a jump-start was needed.
The Ducks may have just found that player. And she’s not your average freshman.
Gunderson has begun to step up and play an increasingly effective role for the Ducks. Her 12 points against Washington State last Thursday were a career high, and it was just an example of the success she has enjoyed so far.
“It feels good to know that I’m improving as time goes on instead of backpedalling,” she said. “It felt good to get in there (against Washington State), and that I can put up numbers. It was a good confidence booster and it will be interesting to see how things go on.”
For the Ducks, Curry is the “wacky” senior who shows all kind of emotion on the court. Williams is the serious junior who has a stare unrivaled in the conference.
And as a freshman, Gunderson has started to carve a niche of her own.
She is the acrobat who can make a shot from any angle or elevation. If a team has found a way to stop her, it hasn’t shown it yet.
“I’ve always been like that, but I don’t even see myself like that,” Gunderson said. “People are always like, ‘How’d you make that?’ Just knowing that I can twist and move put up shots that you wouldn’t call normal and be able to make them adds a little flair.”
The games in Washington last week afforded Gunderson, a 6-foot guard from Bellevue, Wash., the chance to go home for the first time. Although she wasn’t much of a Husky fan when she grew up — instead she “just liked watching college basketball,” — the games up north were a pleasant experience.
“It was nice to go up to Washington and put on a decent game for myself and my team,” she said.
And what about her old school, Bellevue High?
“I stayed up (after Saturday’s game) and actually watched my high school win the district championship,” she said. “It was good to see them keep going.”

Offensive dynamos
The Ducks may have finished seventh in the Pacific-10 Conference, but several Oregon players enjoyed impressive statistical season.
It should come as no surprise to Duck and Pac-10 fans that Williams finished near the top in three categories. Williams was No. 1 in conference play with 18.4 points per game.
Williams was the best in the conference in free throw percentage at 90.1, the best single-season percentage in the Ducks’ history.
Finally, at 4.15 assists per game, she ranked sixth in the Pac-10.
Sophomore Cathrine Kraayeveld was fourth in the conference in field goal percentage at .500, and with 7.6 rebounds per game, she ranked sixth in the conference.
Craighead ended her Oregon career by shooting 42 percent from beyond the three-point arc, and was ninth in the Pac-10 with 1.79 steals per game.

Record watch
Craighead, who finished her regular season career with two three-pointers against Washington on Saturday, now has 160 in her career. That is good enough to place her second all-time in Oregon history, trailing only Missy Croshaw’s 189.
Her 42 percent made this season is also good for fourth all-time, this time trailing Michele Ebele’s 1988-89 mark by 5 percent.
At one of the guard positions, Williams has again made her way into the record books. The Portland native is ninth in school history in scoring at 1,335 points. She trails eighth place by 57 points.
Williams scored 471 points this season, including 331 in Pac-10 play. If she keeps up that pace, she will end her Oregon career next season with 1,806 points, good for fourth all-time.

Regular season notes
The Ducks finished 10-8, their ninth straight winning season in conference play … Oregon averaged 72.7 points per game, fourth in the Pac-10 … Three Ducks recorded double-doubles this season, with Kraayeveld earning five … On Jan. 6 against Arizona, Williams became the only Duck to post more than 30 points in a game with a career-high tying 31… Kraayeveld was the only Duck to be named Pac-10 Player of the Week when she earned the honors on Feb. 18 … The Ducks led the Pac-10 again in attendance as 4,613 fans on average watched Oregon at McArthur Court. They did not, however, draw in the largest crowd of the season; 6,193 watched Oregon State defeat the Ducks in January, but an earlier Stanford-Tennessee game in Palo Alto, Calif., attracted 7,391 people.