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W. hoops to take on Oregon

Bruins will use defense to attack

Ducks' momentum

By Emmanuelle Ejercito

Daily Bruin Staff

The UCLA women's basketball team will play the first part of a pivotal road trip in Oregon tonight as it tips off against the Ducks in Eugene.

With only two games separating the third and eighth place teams in the Pac-10, the Bruins need a win against Oregon to stay in the top half of the conference. But Oregon is not a team of sitting Ducks.

Last season, the Ducks finished fourth in the Pac-10 with an 11-7 record. Though it seemed they would not match last year's success after losing four of the first five conference games, the Ducks have recently turned it around. Oregon has won three in a row, including a sweep of the Arizona schools in the desert.

"They just came back from Arizona ... and I think that was a tough place to win," UCLA head coach Kathy Olivier said. "I know that maybe they weren't as tough as they were last year, but they are still tough."

With the graduation of Sally Crowe and Jessica Schutt, the Ducks lost a major part of their offensive production. Crowe and Schutt were the top free throwers for Oregon, and Crowe produced almost half of the team's assists.

Stepping up for this season's Ducks is junior Arianne Boyer. Boyer leads Oregon (11-6 overall, 3-4 Pac-10) in both rebounding and scoring. The junior averages 17.2 points and 8.3 rebounds, while All Pac-10 selection Renae Fegent averages 13.9 points and 7.5 rebounds.

"They are a really steady team and if our defense doesn't bother them then we will be in trouble," Olivier said. "So we've got to play very aggressive defense. We are going to press them some and try to trap them a lot and get them to turn the ball over."

The Ducks also plan to concentrate on defense. Oregon leads the Pac-10 in scoring defense, holding its opponents to only 58.9 points per game.

"We are just going to try and play good defense," Oregon head coach Jody Runge said. "(We will) make them shoot from the outside, not give them any transition baskets and hopefully try and force them into a poor shooting percentage."

Senior Allison Arredondo, with her 5.5 points per game and 50 percent shooting off the bench, could be instrumental for a victory in McArthur Court.

"What we might do is that we might put Allison as a wing sub to get her into the offense and maybe get her to hit some outside shots," Olivier said. "We need someone to be able to hit the outside shot for us to be able to open up the inside."

Poor outside shooting stifled the Bruins against the zone defense of Southern California. UCLA (9-7, 4-3) has had trouble with scoring opposite the zone due to its lack of perimeter shooting. And the slow-tempo game of Oregon might prove to be troublesome for the Bruins.

"We are going to have to really be patient on offense," Olivier said. "We are going to have to dominate on the boards and we really haven't been able to do that."

SUSIE CHU/Daily Bruin

Fierce defense has been a trademark of the UCLA women's basketball team. throughout this season and will be a key determinant of tonight's contest at Oregon.

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