The Barometer Online

Issue date: 1/15/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jeff Wick Redshirt freshman Kassanda McCalister and the OSU women's basketball team look to take advantage of struggling WSU and UW.

The Oregon State women's basketball team continues on their Pac-10 journey, looking to pick up two more wins this weekend as they match up against Washington State and the University of Washington.

Finally picking up a conference win last Saturday against Arizona (68-43), the Beavers have a positive outlook on their upcoming games in Washington this weekend. Coming out showing that they could handle the pressure, the Beavers are on their way to prove they could be one of this year's best teams of the Pac-10.

Sophomore guard Talisa Rhea is back on her shooting game, scoring 21 points, 15 points of which were 3-point shots. Senior center Tiffany Ducker also stepped her game up, being just a rebound away from a double-double, as well as contributing 12 of the 68 points that secured the Beaver win.

Washington State is still looking for their first conference win this season. The Cougars, who are 7-7 overall and 0-3 in the Pac-10, have been on a five-game losing streak since Dec. 22, when they fell to Hawaii. Last Saturday the Cougars were stomped by Stanford 102-53. Leading shooter Jazmine Perkins averages 14.6 points per game, followed by April Cook with 13.7. Rosie Tarnowski leads Washington State in rebounds averaging six per game, with Heather Molzen holding close with 5.8. Washington State is going to be hungry for a win to break the losing streak.

The Oregon State-Washington State series has been strongly dominated by OSU (41-21 all time). However, the last meet between the two schools resulted in a close win for the Cougars (56-52), which tied the series of games played at Pullman at 15-15.

"We expect to see all the same things that we've been playing against - pressure," senior guard Mercedes Fox-Griffin said. "Both the Washington schools are going to be switching up their defense a lot, so we've been preparing for that."

The University of Washington women's basketball team hasn't done much better this season. The Huskies are 5-8 and 1-2 in the conference. Their one Pac-10 victory was over rival Washington State. Losing to the top two teams in the conference (nationally ranked Stanford and California), Washington will be looking to get a home court win on Saturday afternoon. Laura McLellan leads the Huskies in buckets, averaging 10.0 points per game, and Sami Whitcomb is close behind with 9.8. Heidi McNeil holds the team in rebounding averaging 4.4 per game this season. The Huskies lead the all-time series against the Beavers 47-25, including a record of 25-9 in Seattle. Oregon State hasn't won on Husky turf since 2002.

"If we continue to do what we started last Saturday, then I think we should be successful," Fox-Griffin said. "We just have to stay focused and connected."

The Beavers take on Washington State Thursday night at 7 p.m. and Washington Saturday at 2 p.m. Both games will be aired on the radio, either on KTHH 990-AM or KKAD 1550-AM.



Maria Bruggere, sports writer

sports@dailybarometer.com

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