The Barometer Online

Women to host Ducks for Civil War

First Civil War matchup of season to be held at Gill Coliseum Saturday evening

Tori Hill

Issue date: 1/8/10 Section: Sports

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Media Credit: Jeffrey Basinger

Freshman guard Hiden Palmer goes up for a shot during their game against UC Santa Barbara Dec. 5, 2009, where the Beavers lost to the Gauchos 59-53.

By Tori Hill

The Daily Barometer

After a week of preparation, the Oregon State women's basketball team will play host for the first Civil War matchup between the Ducks and the Beavers in 2010.

Oregon State is coming off a split weekend, where they beat the Washington State Cougars and fell to the University of Washington Huskies last Saturday at Gill Coliseum.

Currently, the Oregon Ducks sit atop the Pac-10 conference with a record of 2-0 (11-3 overall), along with USC and UCLA. The Ducks currently lead the civil war matchup 56-26, but had a rough time last season competing against the Beavers' suffocating defense.

"This is a team that plays 94 feet; they look to get out and pressure the ball full court," head coach LaVonda Wagner said. "They look to score offense off their defense; they really play an up-tempo type game."

Oregon faced a tough preseason schedule, overcoming opponents such as Boise State and Santa Clara, and is now ranked first in the nation in scoring, averaging 87.1 points per game. The Ducks return three seniors in guards Taylor Lilley and Micaela Cocks, as well as forward Lindsey Saffold. Along with senior leadership, Oregon adds six juniors and a slew of underclassman to the roster.

"They've got great senior leadership in Micaela Cocks and Taylor Lilley," Wagner said. "They understand the system and run their system very well."

After leading the Ducks to a 2-0 start last weekend over the Washington schools for the first time since 2005, Lilley was named Pac-10 Player of the Week while averaging 24 points per game. The Oregon senior shot 56 percent from the floor and contributed a combined 10 3-pointers on the weekend.

"Their whole team is playing well right now. They have a bunch of 3-point shooters," junior guard Talisa Rhea said. "Lilley's a big-time shooter; she's one of their go-to players."

For the Beavers, Rhea led the team last weekend with a game high of 22 points against the University of Washington, which didn't prove to be quite enough to send Oregon State past the Huskies. The Beavers shot 35 percent from the field and 80 percent from the charity stripe in their last contest, but they will have to improve on a few things in order to overcome their in-state rival.

Continued...

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