OSU
Sports History Minute - March 16, 2001
Part
9 of 20: Not This Time!
In the history of women's intercollegiate athletics
at Oregon State, there have been many defining moments:
Joni Huntley's American records in the high jump
(1975) and Bronze Medal in the '84 Olympics; softball
superstar Tarrah Beyster in 2000 becoming one of
OSU's rare four-time All-Americans; Mary Budke in
1972 winning the U.S. Women's Amateur golf championship;
the many awards and national honors in women's gymnastics.
In the category "team victories," my favorite moment
would have to go to the 1979 basketball team and
what the team did one cold weekend in Bozeman, Montana.
 |
Above: In 1979, Aki Hill was the
first-year coach of the Beavers and took
her team to a 14-5 regular season record.
Two of the losses came against the Ducks.
The regional tournament's championship
forced a rematch.
Left: After the game, OSU star
Carol Menken said, "Our thoughts tonight
were not to go to the sectionals. Our
only thought was to beat Oregon."
Photos from The Beaver, 1980. |
|
The dates were March 8-10. The event was the Association
for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women's Region IX
Tournament at Montana State University.
The winner, to be crowned on the 10th, would advance
to Palo Alto for the Western Sectional Tournament,
the final regional games before the national championship.
All the strongest teams from the various divisions
of the Northwest League were there, including Seattle
University, Montana State, Oregon State, Washington
State and the University of Oregon.
On paper, the Ducks looked like easy money.
At 23-0 and ranked No. 20 in the national polls, this
was one of the most historic basketball teams ever
to play for the UO, led by a tenacious defense and
a scoring machine averaging 86.9 points per game.
First-year Head Coach Aki Hill's Beavers entered the
tournament with a 14-5 record, including two not-so-close
losses to the Ducks during the regular season. Undefeated
and confident, the Ducks drew a bye the first round
while the Beavers were struggling to beat Montana
State 76-73. Against Washington State, OSU fared better
with a 71-62 victory and the right to advance to the
championship round.
As predicted, the Ducks also advanced to the trophy
game. The showdown came on a Saturday night, before
a measly 120 fans.
Hill's task was huge: how to stop a team that hadn't
been stopped all year; how to shut down one of the
nation's most potent offenses; how to deal with a
Duck squad in which everyone up and down the lineup
could score?
Final tally: Oregon State 75, UO 68. The task had
been accomplished, the giant felled.
OSU All-American Carol Menken, whose output for three
games at 95 points earned her all-tournament honors,
summed up her team's stunning upset of the Ducks by
saying: "Our thoughts tonight were not to go to the
sectionals. Our only thought was to beat Oregon."
And beat them they did, with Menken having a career
night (14-19 from the floor, a shooting percentage
of 73.7 percent), and a tenacious defense that allowed
Oregon's reserves a total of six points the entire
game. The Ducks managed but 39.4 percent shooting
from the field (28-71) and did not go to the free
throw line at all in the second half.
There was also the thought of turnovers, how they
(the Beavers) had turned the ball over a school-record
48 times in their last meeting with the Ducks. In
this third and most important meeting with their rivals,
OSU players gave the ball to Oregon but 18 times.
The Ducks did win the rebound war at 50-39 but had
21 costly turnovers, particularly late in the game,
as Hill's defense began to smell victory and tightened
on the Lemon-Yellow with vise-grip firmness.
Back in the dressing room, a jubilant Hill said: "I'm
very proud of our players. They played the whole time
with intensity and aggressiveness. They really had
the desire to win ... knew they would have to work
two times harder."
-- George
P. Edmonston, Jr. |
