By Seth Doria
Arizona Daily Wildcat
February 23, 1998

Defense key as women blast Oregon

Arizona's women's basketball head coach Joan Bonvicini had a lot of reasons to be happy about her team's win over Oregon Saturday night.

For instance, Oregon's leading scorer, senior guard Natalie Hughes (15.3 points a game), was shut down by DeAngela Minter and finished with only five points.

Mikko Giordano, subbing for injured senior center Marte Alexander, who is out for at least one more game, stepped up to have her most productive outing of the season, scoring 10 points and grabbing eight rebounds in 32 minutes as Arizona defeated Oregon, 68-48 at McKale Center.

Adia Barnes also recorded six steals and grabbed eight offensive rebounds on her way to a 19-point, 13-rebound performance.

Oh yeah, and the eighth-ranked Wildcats (18-5, 11-3 in the Pacific 10 Conference) also held the Ducks (15-8, 11-4) to a season-low 48 points, 23 under their season average.

In one stretch during the first half, the Ducks did not hit a field goal for over nine minutes.

But was Bonvicini happy during the game?

Not by a long shot. She stomped and yelled and screamed and twirled through the entire game - even when it was obvious the Ducks were not going to make a comeback.

During a timeout in the first half, Bonvicini screamed at her assistant coaches while repeatedly slamming her hand on a clipboard. Then she started screaming at her players.

"I was fired up on everybody," the more relaxed Bonvicini said after the game. "This was a huge game. I wanted to see more intensity. I had to do what I had to do."

The importance of the game was two-fold, in that it put the Wildcats in second place in the Pac-10 as well as avenging a 68-66 loss to the Ducks last month.

"We felt that we shouldn't have lost at Oregon," Barnes said. "We came out with a lot of fire."

Oregon coach Jody Runge said the defense on Hughes was crucial in the Wildcat win.

"She scores 20 and we're in the game," Runge said. "That made the difference. That was just a great defensive job all the way around for Arizona."

"We played together today," Giordano said. "This team has overcome a lot of adversity. I came ready to play today. I'm glad I was able to step in, but I hope Marte comes back soon."

And as for Bonvicini's yelling and hollering, Giordano said it was nothing new.

"She yells like that all the time," she said. "I've seen her actually worse."

The Ducks, who dropped to third place in the Pac-10 after the loss, have to win at least two of their final three games to even have a prayer at getting an at-large bid for March's NCAA Tournament.

"I hope they get in (to the tournament)," Bonvicini said. "But we weren't going to help them."