University of Oregon
LSU
Ducks Stun No. 9 LSU, 76-67
11/16/03 | Women's Basketball
EUGENE, Ore. ? In one of the biggest non-conference wins in school history, the University of Oregon women's basketball team upset No. 9-ranked LSU 76-67 before a McArthur Court crowd of 3,355 Sunday.
Senior forward Cathrine Kraayeveld scored 17 of her game-high 26 points in the first half, in which Oregon established themselves inside offensively and defensively and led 41-26 at the break.
Kraayeveld had 51 points and 20 rebounds combined in the two games en route to MVP honors of the Women's Sports Foundation Challenge.
The Ducks (2-0), which beat an SEC team for the first time since 1981 ? also a win over LSU ? held their largest lead of the game at 59-42 on a Brandi Davis lay-in with 8:09 left. But the Lady Tigers (1-1) began to full-court press, causing the Ducks havoc in the back court as they turned it over six times over the next six minutes. LSU, however, could get no closer than nine down.
The win marked Oregon's first win over a top-10 ranked team since defeating UCLA on the road in the 1999-00 season. The Ducks are also 4-1 against LSU all-time but 1-11 combined against the other SEC teams.
“We played good defense and got back in transition,” Oregon coach Bev Smith said. “This gives us a great foundation to build on the rest of the year.”
“They came out with fire, intensity and they fought hard the whole time,” said LSU sophomore guard Seimone Augustus, who finished with a team-high 22 points. “They took advantage of every mistake we made, every turnover and turned around and made something special out of it. The crowd was loud. They kept us energized and kept us down.”
Augustus, a national player of the year candidate and last year's National Freshman of the Year, struggled with Kraayeveld guarding her in the first half as she shot 4-of-14 from the floor. She heated up in the second half, hitting on 7-of-10, but her efforts weren't enough for the Lady Tigers. Oregon's size gave LSU ? a 2003 Elite Eight qualifier ? problems as the Ducks blocked seven shots in the game and six alone in the first half.
“We dug ourselves a 10-foot hole and we only had a 9-foot ladder,” LSU coach Sue Gunter said. “Oregon played terrific and had a great game plan. They took us away from the things we wanted to do.”
Andrea Bills came up big inside for the Ducks, scoring a career-high 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting. She also pulled down seven rebounds. Junior point guard Corrie Mizusawa had a big second half, scoring 11 of her 12 points after the break to go with five assists overall.
“We're pretty pumped,” said Mizusawa, who made the All-Tournament team. “LSU is a tremendous team and we were excited to play them. And fortunately, it turned out well.”
For this weekend's games only, the international 3-point line was used as well as the trapezoid-shaped key.
All-Tournament Team
Cathrine Kraayeveld, Oregon (MVP)
Seimone Augustus, LSU
Corrie Mizusawa, Oregon
Liad Suez, Villanova
Katie Boone, Valparaiso
Andrea Bills, Oregon
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