Young Ducks find their way to victory

By Rob Moseley

The Register-Guard

Published: Monday, November 5, 2007

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They learned how to dominate when the opportunity was there. And now, they know how to survive when things aren’t going well.

The exhibition season had much to offer the young Oregon women’s basketball team. Four days after more than doubling up an undersized opponent, the Ducks needed overtime to beat a touring club team called Love & Basketball 73-69 before 2,105 in McArthur Court on Sunday afternoon.

"It was a battle in there for a little bit," UO sophomore guard Taylor Lilley said. "Well, for the whole game."

Nobody in green and yellow was pleased with how the game developed. The veteran guards weren’t defending well on the perimeter. The young forwards weren’t fighting hard enough for position on offense.

But everybody liked the outcome. It came a year after the Ducks dropped an exhibition game by four points. And a year after the Ducks opened Pac-10 play by going 2-7, with six losses by 10 or fewer points — two in overtime.

"Last year, we probably wouldn’t have won that game," junior point guard Tamika Nurse said. "So that’s a big step for us. That puts us in a good position and makes us feel better. Because we did accomplish a lot of things last year. And it’s a good thing to know that we’re starting with a better base than we started the year before."

The Ducks had 50 points in the paint against Western Oregon on Thursday, and 18 on Sunday. In the first half, Oregon’s freshmen forwards couldn’t find space down low against the bigger club team of former college players. Only 9-of-16 three-point shooting, including a couple of deep bombs by Lilley, kept the Ducks in it.

After halftime, they found a way to get the ball into the post, but the forwards didn’t convert. Four days after combining for 40 points on 18-of-29 shooting, the freshman trio of Ellie Manou, Nicole Canepa and Ellyce Ironmonger had 20 points on 7-of-26 shooting.

"It was a lot different," Canepa said. "It was a lot more challenging. But I think it was good for the posts to get that experience, so we’re ready for teams with bigger size. We didn’t really get it inside as much, and I don’t think we were working as hard as we could have inside. But I think now in practice we can take that and work on things that could have helped us in this game."

The Ducks shot 19.4 percent in the second half, going more than 16 minutes with just two field goals. Manou ended that stretch by using a pump fake to convert a layup that made it 63-61. But Jessica Cheeks, whose three-pointer had tied it at 61-61 moments before, hit a jumper with three seconds left in regulation to force overtime.

Canepa and Ironmonger each had two touches for Oregon to start the extra period, and each had a miss and a turnover. After Canepa finally scored to get the Ducks within 67-65, Nurse, Lilley and senior wing Kaela Chapdelaine scored the final eight points and grabbed key rebounds on the other end to clinch the win.

It was a nice job of setting the tone by the veterans with the game on the line. But UO coach Bev Smith would have rather seen that done a lot earlier.

"Across the board, from our veterans to our freshmen," Smith said, "we were flat. ... Obviously we learned some valuable lessons."

The Ducks open the regular season Saturday in McArthur Court against San Jose State at 1:30 p.m.

OREGON 73, LOVE & BASKETBALL 69

FG FT Reb

LOVE&BASKETBALL

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Woods 34 5-9 4-4 2-5 0 2 14

Andersen 25 4-9 4-4 1-6 0 0 14

Johnson 36 3-10 2-3 0-5 1 2 10

Cheeks 40 4-12 0-0 1-7 4 3 9

White 29 3-7 0-0 0-3 1 5 6

Rainey 21 1-4 0-1 1-2 2 3 3

Law 20 2-4 2-2 1-3 0 4 7

Nascimento 13 1-3 0-0 1-1 0 3 2

Mitchell 7 1-1 2-2 0-2 0 2 4

TOTALS 225 24-59 14-16 8-37 8 24 69

Percentages: FG .407, FT .875. 3-Point Goals: 7-22, .318 (Johnson 2-4, Andersen 2-5, Rainey 1-2, Law 1-3, Cheeks 1-7, Nascimento 0-1). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 6 (Woods 2, White 2, Johnson, Mitchell). Turnovers: 22 (Cheeks 5, Johnson 4, Andersen 3, White 3, Rainey 3, Woods, Law, Nascimento, Mitchell). Steals: 5 (Johnson 2, Rainey 2, Cheeks).

FG FT Reb

OREGON Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Manou 24 3-6 2-2 4-9 0 4 8

Chapdelaine 35 2-8 5-8 4-6 2 4 11

Canepa 34 3-12 4-6 2-7 0 1 10

Lilley 40 7-13 2-2 0-2 1 2 21

Nurse 40 3-8 7-10 2-6 4 1 16

Cocks 16 1-7 0-0 0-1 1 2 3

Ironmonger 22 1-8 0-0 3-8 2 3 2

Kenyon 9 1-2 0-0 1-1 2 0 2

Jackson 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 0

TOTALS 225 21-65 20-28 18-47 13 18 73

Percentages: FG .323, FT .714. 3-Point Goals: 11-27, .407 (Lilley 5-9, Nurse 3-6, Chapdelaine 2-6, Cocks 1-5, Manou 0-1). Team Rebounds: 7. Blocked Shots: 1 (Canepa). Turnovers: 22 (Canepa 4, Ironmonger 4, Chapdelaine 3, Nurse 3, Manou 2, Lilley 2, Kenyon 2, Cocks, Jackson). Steals: 6 (Lilley 3, Canepa, Nurse, Ironmonger).

Love & Basketball 38 25 6 -69

Oregon 42 21 10 -73

A—2,105. Officials—Jay Schumaker, Catherine Cornell, Laura