The Barometer Online

Issue date: 1/8/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jeff Wick Senior guard Mercedes Fox-Griffin leads Oregon State with 55 assists as the Beavers look to rebound from loses to USC and UCLA last weekend.

After losing two straight last week against UCLA and USC, the Oregon State women's basketball team is looking to come back.

Oregon State takes another shot at Pac-10 play this weekend at the Legendary Gill Coliseum against Arizona State and Arizona.

The Beavers look at the Sun Devils first up on Thursday evening for their shot at redemption. It will be a tough game. Arizona State's top scorer, senior guard Briann January, who averages 13.4 points per game, will face off against OSU's leading scorer sophomore guard Talisa Rhea (14.7 points per game). ASU's leading rebounder Sybil Dosty averages eight rebounds per game while senior center Tiffany Ducker averages 6.8 rebounds per game. Both teams will be looking to pick up a Pac-10 win this weekend.

In Saturday's game the Beavers will match up against the Arizona Wildcats and their top scorer - sophomore forward Ify Ibekwe, who averages 15.3 points per game.

The Arizona schools haven't had much luck in their first week of conference play either. Arizona (7-5, 0-2 Pac-10) and Arizona State (8-6, 0-2 Pac-10) lost both of their conference openers as well. The Wildcats and the Sun Devils both fell to top-ranked Cal and Stanford, though Arizona State lost by significantly smaller margins than Arizona.

The focus this week facing both Arizona teams will be on handling the pressure of the Pac-10, a factor the Beavers were not expecting last week. The Beavers are ready to step onto the court, prove they are a strong team and score a conference win.

"We're expecting them to put a lot of pressure on us," senior guard Mercedes Fox-Griffin said. "We've proven that we are a good team now, and we need to expect people to believe it. We need to be prepared to handle the pressure."

The Beavers will be looking to key players Rhea, Fox-Griffin and sophomore center Alex Mitchell for points, rebounds and steals. Mitchell and Fox-Griffin average 13.9 and 8.6 points per game, respectively.

"Most teams have overlooked us in the past," Fox-Griffin said. "We need to keep playing our game and play the way we've been playing throughout the pre-season - handling pressure, executing our plays and getting stops.

"We just need to stay connected as a team because teams are going to start pressuring us now, and we've proven that we can handle the pressure," Fox-Griffin added.

"We've got to understand that we are a good team and people show up to play us now, and I think that's the culture that we continue to change," head coach LaVonda Wagner said. "The emphasis this week is to do what we've been doing but to focus on doing that well and being connected as a team."

Wagner has changed the culture of women's basketball over the last three years at Oregon State, and it shows in the way the women play.

"This is a weekend where we get back on track," Wagner said.



Maria Bruggere, sports writer

sports@dailybarometer.com

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