University of Oregon
Arizona
Arizona Ambushes Women?s Basketball, 84-58
02/21/04 | Women's Basketball
TUCSON, Ariz. ? Shawntinice Polk showed why she's one of the nation's best post players Saturday, scoring a game-high 23 points to go with nine rebounds as Arizona defeated the University of Oregon women's basketball team 84-58 before 5,003 fans at McKale Center.
Polk, an athletic 6-foot-5 sophomore, hit 9-of-13 from the field, had two steals and one blocked shot in 25 minutes of play. She had seven points in Arizona's 17-4 run to open the game as the Wildcats built a 43-20 halftime lead and never looked back.
Arizona, which won its 27th straight at home, moved to 20-7 and 12-4 in the Pac-10. Oregon, which has lost to the Wildcats seven straight times, dropped to 12-14 and 4-12.
“Their shooters were shooting the ball really well,” Oregon coach Bev Smith said. “We weren't as precise as we needed to be on offense and that hurt us. Our team gave a winning effort for where we are and the injuries we've endured.”
Arizona shot 53 percent from the floor while Oregon managed 46 percent. The Ducks were done in by a season-high 25 turnovers and were outrebounded 37-23.
The Wildcats got Oregon leading scorer, Andrea Bills, into early foul trouble as she picked up her second foul with 18:10 left in the opening half. It proved to be the polar opposite of Oregon's last game with Arizona at McArthur Court, where Polk got into foul trouble and finished with only seven points in a 70-66 Arizona win.
Dee-Dee Wheeler scored 16 points and had five steals for the Wildcats while back-court mate Natalie Jones had 14 and Shannon Hobson 13.
In all, Oregon's early deficit was too much to overcome. “It puts a lot of pressure on the open shots that you do have,” Smith said. “The ball weighs one-and-a-half pounds but feels like 15.”
The Ducks played without their second-leading scorer, Brandi Davis, in the entire first half because of disciplinary reasons. She ended up leading Oregon in scoring with 11, making all three of her 3-point field goal attempts in 10 minutes of action.
Oregon got a sneak peak into its future by extensively playing little-used freshmen Jessica Shetters, Ashley Allen and Cicely Oaks. Allen notched a career-high six points on 3-of-4 shooting while Shetters also dropped in six ? all in the second half ? and Oaks ended with a personal-best four points.
Junior point guard Corrie Mizusawa had three assists which gave her 161 on the season, tying her with former Oregon great Lauri Landerholm (1983-84) for third place on the single-season chart.
Carolyn Ganes also moved up in the record books after her 8-of-8 performance from the free throw line. Ganes is shooting 81.4 percent for her career, which vaulted her past Landerholm's 81 percent mark.
Oregon concludes its home season next Thursday against 10th-ranked Stanford at 7 p.m. and Saturday vs. California at 1 p.m.
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