Oregon Women's Basketball Fan Page

SEVEN GAME SLIDE PROHIBITS .500 SEASON
The University of Oregon Women's Basketball Team went on a seven game losing streak right after reaching the .500 mark in PAC-10 play. The skid probably put the Ducks out of WNIT contention unless they can win the Civil War game against Oregon State this Saturday and then follow that up with three victories in the PAC-10 tournament and even then it would probably be a long shot.

On a more positive note the team has won 2 of the last htree heading into Saturday's rivalry. Coupons can be picked up at area Bi-Marts for $5 GA tickets. It will be Kaela Chapdelaines'final home game and it would be nice to see a big turn out for her last appearance at Mac Court.

I do have pictures up from the last several home games, those are linked to below:
vs UCLA February 23, 2008
vs California February 9, 2008
vs Stanford February 7, 2008
vs Washington January 19, 2008 (photos by Lara Nesselroad)

Both Lara and myself will be at the Oregon State game this Saturday and it is my hope Lara will write something for the page. My baby, Makayla Ann continues to grow and is now about 12 pounds at 2 and a half months of age. Thanks for visiting and please, please keep checking back.

OREGON OVER .500 IN PAC-10
OK, so it has been a while since I last updated this page. With a new baby born December 5th, it is simply good enough to keep up. If you don't see pictures posted here fairly soon after a home game please try http://www.nwsportspics.com I usually post there a day or so after a game.

GAMES I HAVE POSTED SINCE THE LAST UPDATE:
at Oregon State December 29, 2007 (pictures by Lara Nesselroad)
vs Arizona State January 3, 2008
vs Arizona January 5, 2008
vs Washington State January 17, 2008
and coming soon
vs Washington January 19, 2008 (pictures by Lara Nesselroad)

Again, I am sorry for the lack of updates, hopefully Lara will write something for the page soon. Please keep checking back.

OREGON SPLITS LAST FOUR GAMES
The Ducks suffered loses to Portland and a rough one at Baylor, however they beat Long Beach State at home with pictures available here and defeated UCSB at the Pape Jam last weekend.

OREGON HANGS ON AGAINST MARQUETTE
Okay, first things first. In this game there were 46 fouls called. 46. That's like if there were no subs in basketball, pretty much everyone fouling out (well. They'd wind up playing two on two with four fouls apiece). Good grief. And this despite a period of just over seven minutes in the second half with no fouls called, so 46 in 33 minutes. This is roughly one every 40 seconds of play. I could be wrong, but I think I think that's calling the game just a little too tight. It wasn't that there was a lot of major roughhousing going on.

In other news, I don't think I have ever seen a team score three points in the first slightly over a quarter, and then come back and win. It's just as well the crowd that goes to women's game is, by and large, not a group inclined to leave if the score is looking ugly, because being down 14-3 is a Bad Thing in football, much less basketball, and while an 11 point lead isn't insurmountable, having been outscored, a quarter of the way in, by nearly 5-to-1 is usually a bad sign. And 3 points in 10 minutes is not generally going to lead to wins.

And yeah, I know: the fact they didn't panic and did come back and win, despite the crazy youth level on the team, is pretty cool.

Let's see. I did keep score (hence paying attention to the fouls), but I can't check the official box score, because my current (new) computer has Issues about visiting code-heavy websites such as goducks.com (you know: bells and whistles, scripts and image maps and whatnot. No dice). So we will have to make do with my unofficial numbers.

8 of 10 from the line for Canepa: this, I like, because in this league, folks go to the line a lot (more if there is a foul every 40 seconds…), and those points are important. I mean, in a one-point win, it's pretty easy math to conclude 7/10 makes for a different result. Anyway, sometimes posts struggle with the free throws because the range of that shot, free or not, is a lot greater than their usual shots. 80% works for me.

For a bit there in the first half, there was one starter on the floor. Let's see. Starters were Manou, Canepa, Nurse, Lilley, and Chapdelaine, and at one point on the floor it was Lilley, Cocks, Jackson, Ironmonger, and Kenyon. I think. In any case, one starter, and a pile of freshmen. And nothing bad happened. Not that the starting lineup was exactly noteworthy for advanced age anyway. We've had six freshmen before, several years ago, and that didn't go so well in the long run, I don't think, but I have high hopes for this group.

In sundry other notes: so far this year the trivia questions are not, as sometimes seems the plan during the conference season, designed to enrage the opponent, so that's good. However, given that the folks coming to games right now are probably us die-hards, they might be a little too easy. Especially ones that ask "which current member of the team (did some big thing) last year. The choices are kind of limited, man.

Pictures from the game are available here!

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE GIVES DUCKS FIRST LOSS
Oregon couldn't overcome foul trouble and South Dakota State dictated the tempo of the game defeating the Ducks 67-60 Thursday night at Mac Court. Pictures from the game are available here!

OREGON DOMINATES SAN JOSE STATE
The Ducks put on a great all-around performance in defeating San Jose State at Mac Court Saturday night 67-32. Pictures from the contest are available here!

DUCKS FINISH EXHIBITION SEASON WITH OT WIN
It took an overtime period but the Ducks defeated a very good Love and Basketball squad 73-69 in overtime. Pictures by Lara Nesselroad are available here!

NEW LOOK DUCKS WIN EXHIBITION AGAINST WESTERN OREGON
EUGENE, OR (11-1-07) by Lara Nesselroad--So, I didn't actually keep score, for a change, at the exhibition game, which means I wound up fairly surprised by the actual individual stats. Instead, as I sat, I made a few notes about my initial impressions of the five freshmen who played, since I thought it might be fun to see if I have a similar opinion at the end of the year.

First of all, I realize this was a game against a team not expected to play at the same level. However, given the prevalence of freshmen, I thought maybe Western would have more experience and it'd even things out, so I was pleasantly surprised by how overpowering we worked out to be.

Anyway. One player at a time, my general impressions:

Ellie Manou struck me initially as deliberate. Not slow in the confused way that sometimes you see with freshmen, but just, willing to take some time and make a choice. That's not a bad thing, though I also a couple of times noted that it's going to be important to speed up, sometimes, Of course, that will come. I spent a large chunk of the game trying to work out whom she reminded me of, but didn't come to a very clear conclusion—she was the only one; everyone else I thought of someone they were sort of like.

Ellyce Ironmonger struck me as just almost on top of things, as far as moving around, and just a step behind yet. That's not really a big criticism; this, too, will come. I just noted several times it seemed she was sticking in one place just a beat longer than ideal. She reminded me in a way of Jenny Mowe, only she's not quite as big, and she's a little more mobile and has a little more range. Little trouble catching passes, I noted, but rebounding was fine.

I was interested to see that of the combinations we saw, Manou and Ironmonger mostly played together, because all in all, they were the least quick of the bunch of posts. I know that wasn't the combination that started, and also that there were several combinations in together, but all in all, Manou played with Ironmonger a lot and Kenyon played with Canepa a lot.

Victoria Kenyon was initially a little behind, but moving well and looking relatively quick for a post. Physically, she reminded me a bit of Eleanor Haring, without the ouchy knees.

Nia Jackson struck me as very much the same kind of guard as Tamika Nurse, which means it might be easy for her to play a little out of control. Which is not to say Tamika hasn't learned control, or that she won't, and also, she ended well sometimes, too. It will be interesting to see if this impression is right. Also, if barely controlled works, I can't say I have a problem with it.

Nicole Canepa was the other quick post, and since we're saying whom they call to mind, she reminds me of Jill Noe. Decent range for a center, flexibility, moving around a lot without it being unnecessary activity. She and Manou started, which is the other combination that saw very much time.

All in all, I was pretty pleased with the number of communication failures, which weren't all that many.

In other commentary (because certainly I have to have a comment on hair), Micaela Cocks went blonde and Taylor Lilley went brunette. This? Confused me mightily. Either way, they both still looked good.

Pictures from the game, by Peter Bellerby, are available here!