Saturday, March 13, 1999

OREGON 65, UC WOMEN 56

---

Bearcats run out of rallies

BY ADAM THOMPSON
Enquirer contributor

UC's Candice Roberson fouls Oregon's Lisa Bowyer. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        AMES, Iowa — For a while, Friday night's Cincinnati-Oregon first-round NCAA Women's Tournament game had all the makings of a “Rocky” movie.

        But the 12th-seed Bearcats did not get their Hollywood ending, falling 65-56 to the fifth-seeded Ducks at the Hilton Coliseum in the East Regional.

        Laura Wilder had a chance to tie the game at 56 with 3:38 remaining, but missed both free throws.

        After Oregon's Brianne Meharry made 1-of-2 free throws, Madinah Slaise had a chance to tie with a three-pointer, but she missed.

        The Ducks (25-5) scored the next nine points to finally close the door.

        “When it comes to crunch time, some of you are going to make shots and some of you aren't, and that's what's going to win ballgames,” UC coach Laurie Pirtle said.

        Choking back tears after the game, Slaise credited Oregon's tough defense.

        The senior guard said: “They had really good help-side, and the drives weren't there. I wasn't accustomed to the defensive styles they played.”

        Angleina Wolvert and Shaquala Williams each scored 16 and Meharry added 14 to lead the Ducks, who will face the winner of the Iowa State-Santa Clara game here Sunday.

        Doris Scott (15 points) and Slaise (12) led UC, which finishes the season 22-9. Cincinati is 0-2 in NCAA appearances.

        In the first half, the Bearcats hung around after the Ducks jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead. That pattern would repeat itself throughout the game. Oregon would stake itself to a mid-sized lead, only to watch UC pull itself back into the game.

        Oregon shot 48.1 percent from the field (61.5 percent in the first half). While the Bearcats had trouble finding the basket. It took UC 3:06 to score to start the game and another 3:33 to start the second half.

        The game looked like it was finally spinning out of the Bearcats' control when Wolvert's spinning lay-up gave her team a 52-39 lead with 11:59 left. But UC came back, capitalizing on five straight Oregon turnovers to spark a 12-0 run.

        “They changed defenses a lot,” UO coach Jody Runge said. “We became tentative on the back end of the press. They were a tremendous challenge for us.”

        The Bearcats' swarming defense created 19 Ducks turnovers, but they could not avoid 16 turnovers.

UC WOMEN'S NOTEBOOK

CINCINNATI (56)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Roberson        33   3-9   0-0   2-4  4  4    6
Kirk            24   1-4   0-0   0-5  1  1    2
Scott           35  6-13   3-3   1-4  0  2   15
Stocks          22   1-2   0-0   1-3  2  4    3
Slaise          35  3-17   4-4   1-4  6  3   12
Wilder           7   1-1   0-3   0-1  0  2    2
Groeber         16   3-5   1-3   1-5  0  2    7
Merriweather    16   1-1   0-0   0-2  0  0    2
Perry           12   2-5   2-3   0-0  0  1    7
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 21-57 10-16  6-28 13 19   56
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.368, FT-.625. 3-Point Goals:
4-11, .364 (Roberson 0-1, Kirk 0-1, Stocks 1-2,
Slaise 2-6, Perry 1-1). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked
shots: 3 (Scott, Kirk, Groeber). Turnovers: 16
(Slaise 7, Roberson 3, Groeber 2, Perry 2, Scott
2). Steals: 10 (Slaise 5, Roberson 2, Groeber,
Kirk, Scott).

OREGON (65)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Obrien          23   4-7   0-0   1-5  3  3    9
Meharry         38  5-10   4-7  3-13  2  2   14
Wolvert         28   7-9   2-4   3-9  1  3   16
Bowyer          30   1-5   4-4   0-0  3  3    6
Williams        39  6-12   4-4   0-2  4  2   16
Piers            1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Strange         16   1-6   0-0   0-2  2  1    2
Dion            11   0-0   0-0   0-1  0  0    0
Mowe            13   1-3   0-0   0-3  0  1    2
Curtis           1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 25-52 14-19  7-35 15 16   65
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.481, FT-.737. 3-Point Goals:
1-10, .100 (Obrien 1-3, Bowyer 0-1, Williams
0-6). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 6 (Wolvert
3, Bowyer, Mowe, Curtis). Turnovers: 19 (Bowyer
5, Dion 3, Williams 3, Wolvert 3, Meharry 2,
Mowe, Obrien, Strange). Steals: 10 (Bowyer 3,
Williams 2, Meharry, Obrien, Piers, Strange,
Wolvert).
__________________________________
Cincinnati         30   26  -   56
Oregon             38   27  -   65
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. Officials: John Whitson,
Carol Comanita, Brian Mikkelson.

---

Bearcats Stories

UC 72, GEORGE MASON 48 UC NOTEBOOK Temple next: Time to give a hoot Paul Daugherty column Owls' Chaney respects UC Hey, Saddam: This is how to win a war UC women run out of rallies MARCH MADNESS PAGE