Ducks Finish Pac-10 Regular Season at No. 3 Stanford, California
What’s Up
The Ducks (18-7, 11-5 Pac-10), alone in second place and needing at least a split to claim the No. 2 seed in next week’s conference tournament, will take their final Pac-10 road trip as it will take on No. 3-ranked Stanford (24-2, 15-1) Thursday at 7 p.m. and California (9-16, 3-13) Saturday at 2 p.m. Oregon has won six of its last seven games as it seeks its first NCAA Tournament bid since 2001.
Radio/TV
All Oregon women’s basketball games are broadcast on KSCR (1320 AM) and KUGN (590 AM) in Eugene as well as KUIK (1360 AM) in Portland, with Ray Martin providing the play-by-play for the 10th straight year. If the women’s game conflicts with the Oregon men’s game, KSCR will air the women. Radio broadcasts also can be heard on GoDucks.com for premium-service subscribers.
Coach Bev Smith
Oregon’s fifth women’s basketball coach, Bev Smith leads her alma mater in her fourth year and first U.S. college coaching stint. In addition to having served as the Canadian National Team coach (1997-01), she coached for 15 years in the Italian pro leagues. Smith has been inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame (2004), Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame (2003) and Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame (2001). Smith was the head coach at the University of British Columbia for one year (1988-89). As a Duck, Smith earned first-team All-America honors twice and still holds school records for rebounds (1,362), assists (443) and steals (349).
Series vs. Stanford
The Cardinal lead the series 30-8, although Oregon has won the last two at home. The Ducks haven’t defeated Stanford at Maples Pavilion since 1987 (1-17 overall).
Last Time vs. Stanford
Dec. 29, 2004, at Eugene
Andrea Bills had 18 points and 15 rebounds as Oregon overcame a 14-point first-half deficit to win 62-58. Cathrine Kraayeveld added 16 points and 15 rebounds for the Ducks who had not defeated a team ranked so high since beating No. 5 Maryland on the same date in 1983. Candice Wiggins had 16 points to lead Stanford. The Ducks went ahead when consecutive 3-pointers by Kaela Chapdelaine made it 53-51. T’Nae Thiel missed the first of two free throws with 1:32 left, keeping Stanford down 59-58. After Kraayeveld’s driving basket made it 61-58 with 1:06 left, the Ducks’ defense held off the Cardinal the rest of the way. Oregon’s shooting was cold early, and the team hit on just one shot in 20 tries over a nearly 11-minute stretch to open the game. Stanford took advantage and went on a 14-0 run to go up 20-6 before a Bills layup with 8:20 left. But the Cardinal also struggled making shots, and the Ducks narrowed it to 27-21 on two Mizusawa free throws. Oregon shot a dismal 20.6 percent in the first half and was 0-of-10 from 3-point range (3-of-16 overall). Stanford made only 2-of-18 overall on threes.
Series vs. California
Oregon leads the series 32-13, although California has won the last two played in California ? in 61-57 in Berkeley and 82-57 at the Pac-10 Tournament in San Jos? last year.
Dec. 27, 2004, at Eugene
Oregon won 81-50 before the Pac-10 opener for both teams. The Ducks, who were tied with the Bears at 19 apiece with 7:32 left in the first half, broke the game open in a four-minute stretch behind Brandi Davis’ eight points as Oregon claimed a 33-21 lead. The Ducks then quickly stretched the lead to 52-27, capped by a Cathrine Kraayeveld 3-pointer with 13:37 remaining. Kraayeveld led Oregon, which defeated California for the 12th straight time at home, with 15 points. Brandi Davis finished with 12 points in a reserve role. Davis hit 4-of-6 from the field, 3-of-4 from the foul line and passed out three assists in 16 minutes. In her first career start, Kristen Forristall added nine points and tied for the team lead with six rebounds. Oregon shot 52 percent for the game while Cal struggled by making only 36 percent. Kiki Williams, Cal’s lone double-digit scorer, had 15 points, making 3-of-5 from long range. Andrea Bills had 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting to go with six boards and two blocked shots.
Kraayeveld’s Korner
All-America candidate Cathrine Kraayeveld is ranked in four Pac-10 statistical categories ? seventh in scoring (14.8) and second in rebounds (9.0), blocked shots (1.4) and defensive rebounding (6.6). She has scored in double-figures 20 times and has notched eight double-doubles this year (27 overall). Kraayeveld also became the 18th Duck to reach the 1,000-point mark for her career (1,065). She ranks sixth all-time at Oregon in blocked shots (128), eighth in rebounds (740), tied for fourth in 3-point field goal percentage (.392) and tied with teammate Chelsea Wagner for ninth in 3-pointers (76).
Bills Paying Her Dues
Senior post player Andrea Bills defines consistency. Bills has played in every contest of her collegiate career (117) and has made a remarkable 97 consecutive appearances in the starting lineup. Bills also continues to climb Oregon’s all-time rebounding chart with 788, good for seventh all-time. She is 12th in the Pac-10 in scoring (11.5), fourth in rebounding (7.2), sixth in field goal percentage (.502) and sventh in blocked shots (1.1). Earlier this year, she became the 17th player at UO reach the 1,000-point mark (1,145).
Dialing Long Distance
The Ducks are the Pac-10’s premier 3-point shooting team, averaging a league-leading 6.2 per game. Oregon nailed a season-high 11 in its win last Saturday over Arizona.
Home Sweet Home
Oregon went 12-1 at home this year (9-0 in conference play). It marked only the third time in program history the Ducks have finished the Pac-10 home slate undefeated ? it also happened in 1998-99 and 1986-87. Since the Pac-10 began to sponsor women’s basketball in 1986-87, Oregon’s best home record was in 1998-99, where it went 14-1.
Davis Delivering
Brandi Davis has been giving the Ducks a much-needed spark recently. On Saturday vs. Arizona she led the team in scoring for the fourth time in the last seven games with 19 points, preceded by a 16-point game against ASU en route to her second U.S. Bank Pac-10 Player of the Week honor of the year ? only the fourth time an Oregon player has been honored more than once in a season and first since Arianne Boyer did it in 1997 (Kasperski, three times 1989; Landerholm, twice 1987). Nearly one month ago, Davis lit up the scoreboard against UCLA with a career-high 28 points. It was the most points scored by an Oregon player since Cathrine Kraayeveld had 33 against Santa Clara in 2002. Davis is in fourth place on Oregon’s all-time 3-pointers list with 135.
Dynamic Duo
Cathrine Kraayeveld and Andrea Bills are one of only three tandems in the nation with more than 700 career rebounds apiece. They join an elite group that includes Baylor’s Steffanie Blackmon and Sophia Young along with Kansas State’s Kendra Weccker and Megan Mahoney. They also are one of two duos in the Pac-10 with more than 1,000 career points ? the other is Arizona’s Dee-Dee Wheeler and Shawntinice Polk.
Passing Fancy
Point guard Corrie Mizusawa, last year’s Pac-10 assists leader, again leads the Pac-10 with a 7.2 assists-per-game average ? second in the nation to West Virginia’s Yolanda Paige (9.4). Her 2.9 assists-to-turnover ratio also leads the league and is third in the nation behind Paige and Villanova’s Betsy McManus. Mizusawa holds the top three marks for assists (although tied with other Ducks) in a single game at Oregon ? 14, 13 and, earlier this year, 12 against Miami. She also ranks seventh all-time in school history with 352 assists, and with 172 on the year, is 19 shy of breaking Jacquie Semeniuk’s single-season school record of 190. To get the record, she would need to average exactly seven assists per game over the next four, which would include one conference tournament game in San Jos?.
... More Mizusawa
Corrie Mizusawa also could become one of the very few players ? men or women ? to finish a career with more assists than points and the first to do so since 1990. Based on the criterium of playing in at least two-thirds of his/her team’s games, here’s where Mizusawa stacks up:
Player, School (Years) Assists Points Diff.
1. Mary Gavin, Notre Dame (1984-88) 778 622 +156
2. Crystal Woodard, Mount St. Mary’s (1979-83) 740 603 +137
3. Michelle Koenig, Cincinnati (1988-90) 231 223 +8
4. Terry Nashif, BYU (2001-present) 143 144 -1
5. Corrie Mizusawa (2000-present) 585 592 -7
In the RPI
Getting Defensive Road Weary Ducks Lead Pac-10 in Attendance
Following its win Saturday over Arizona, Oregon moved up three places to No. 48 in the WBCA/Summerville RPI and up four spots No. 49 according to
They say defense wins championships. And the Oregon defense this year has certainly paved the way for success. On Dec. 4, George Washington had its worst scoring game (40) since 1988, also which was the fewest points allowed by a Bev Smith team. The 46-point total for Portland in the season-opener is the third fewest allowed in Smith’s tenure. In the Pac-10 opening week, both Cal (50) and Stanford (58) were contained to its fewest points all season. Oregon has held its opponents to fewer than 60 points 15 times and 50 or fewer in six instances this year. The Ducks also rank third in the Pac-10 in scoring defense (60.7). Just two years ago, Oregon ranked ninth in the league in scoring defense at 70.5.
The Ducks are 18-28 on the road under Bev Smith and 23-32 overall (including neutral sites). After dropping six of its last eight on the road this year, Oregon is 4-6. Oregon hasn’t been above .500 on the road since going 10-5 in 1999-00.
Oregon’s 3,896 crowd average at McArthur Court is first in the Pac-10 and the 26th best in the nation, in unofficial rankings compiled weekly by the University of Wisconsin. Stanford ranks second in the conference with an average of 3,741.
