University of Oregon
California
Cal Edges Ducks in Pac-10 Opener, 61-57
12/27/03 | Women's Basketball
BERKELEY, Calif. ? The University of Oregon women's basketball team lost 61-57 to California in each team's Pac-10 opener Saturday before 3,113 fans at Haas Pavilion.
California (8-2, 1-0) won a conference-opener for the first time since the 1995-96 season and beat Oregon (8-3, 0-1) for just the second time in the last 21 games.
"Our execution and game plan defensively overall was good," Oregon coach Bev Smith said. "Where we let down was defensive rebounding and we didn't shoot the ball that well."
Oregon lost the battle of the boards 43-33 ? its second-worst rebounding margin this year.
After taking a 28-26 halftime lead with much of the scoring on back-door lay-ins, the Ducks shot just 34 percent in the second half and struggled against the Bears' pressure defense.
Cal was the top-shooting Pac-10 team heading into the game at 48 percent. Likewise, the Ducks disrupted the Bears' offense into a season-low 37 percent shooting. Oregon, though, had trouble stopping Nihan Anaz, who finished with a game-high 17 points, making 6-of-13 from the field.
The Bears led just 40-37 with 12:07 left in the game before going on a 8-2 run in the next four minutes, capped by Kiki Williams' lone field goal of the game, a 3-pointer, that gave them a 48-39 lead. Oregon could not get any closer than six down, as it missed on several uncontested lay-ins, until Eleanor Haring's basket with 5 seconds left proved to be the final score.
"We had to come together as a team and win the second half," Mizusawa said. "They started denying me the ball in the second half. I have to work a little harder to get open so I can run the offense for my team. We had some wide-open shots, we just didn't finish them."
The Ducks went up early in the game, leading 5-0 before Cal first scored with 14:55 on the clock. Oregon led 20-10 before Cal clawed back in a 3-minute span to tie it at 22.
Haring, a freshman forward, led the Ducks with a career-high 14 points and tied a personal-best with seven rebounds. Haring shot just 6-of-16 from the floor, although she failed to convert some easy lay-ins.
Brandi Davis added 11 points off the bench while Kedzie Gunderson notched her fourth double-digit scoring game this year with 10, nailing 3-of-4 field goals and all four of her free throw attempts. Davis' lone 3-pointer gave her 67 in her career and put her into sole possession of eighth place on the school's all-time list.
Mizusawa, who grew up in nearby Lafayette, Calif., finished with five points and four assists, although all of her assists came in the first half.
Oregon next plays Monday at No. 9-ranked Stanford at 7 p.m.
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