Women To Take On USC In Pac-10 Tourney Quarterfinals

THIS WEEK
    Oregon (16-14, 7-11) enters the Pac-10 Tournament on a season-long six-game losing streak. The Ducks tied for sixth in the Pac-10 standings with Washington, as the two squads split their season series - each picking up victories on their respective home floors. But Oregon's 85-77 win at USC proved to be the tiebreaker, as the Huskies did not have a better conference win.
    No. 6 Oregon will play No. 3 USC (18-11, 12-6) in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 Tournament at 5 p.m., Friday at the Galen Center. This is UO's best finish in the conference standings since 2007.

RADIO BROADCASTS/MEDIA
    Over the radio airwaves, Terry Jonz will provide the play-by-play on THE SCORE 95.3 in the Eugene/Springfield area for all of this weekend's games at the Pac-10 Tournament.
    The O-Zone will also offer a live audio feed for both games.
    A webcast is also available to fans to watch the first six games of the tournament at www.pac-10.org.
    The final three games - the semifinals and championship game - will be aired of Fox Sports Net.

ALL-PAC-10 CONFERENCE HONORS
       Oregon fourth-year seniors Micaela Cocks and Taylor Lilley were named to the Pacific-10 All-Conference team, it was announced by the league office on Wednesday.
    For Lilley, this is the fourth consecutive season she has received Pac-10 honors after being named Pac-10 All-Freshman honorable mention in 2007, Pac-10 Third Team in 2008 and Pac-10 honorable mention in 2009.
    Lilley is averaging 17.5 points per game to lead the Ducks (3rd Pac-10), and has crushed every 3-point record in Oregon history; holding the single-game, single-season and all-time 3-point titles at Oregon. She has 1,338 points in her career ranking 10th all-time in UO history, and her 254 career 3-pointers are not only a new UO record, but rank fourth all-time in Pac-10 history.
    Cocks' all-conference selection was the New Zealand native's second league honor of her career after she was selected to the Pac-10 Third Team following the 2008-09 season. Cocks is capable of playing all three guard positions in Westhead's uptempo style offense.
    The 2008 Olympian is averaging a career best 14.9 points per game , while shooting 41.5 percent from the floor and getting to 3.3 rebounds per game.
    This year, Cocks has scored double figures in 25 of her 30 starts, and has reached the 20-point plateau on seven occasions, while also leading the team in scoring seven times.
    In addition to Cocks and Lilley, Oregon sophomore forward Amanda Johnson received Pac-10 honorable mention accolades. The Santa Rosa, Calif., native is Oregon's third leading scorer averaging 12.4 points per game, while leading the squad with 8.5 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-2 sophomore has produced nine double-doubles on the year, and has led the team in rebounding on 20 occasions.
    In addition to Pac-10 All-Conference awards voted on by the league' s 10 head coaches, the Pac-10 also had members of the media vote for awards this season that were announced on Wednesday.
    Lilley was named to the 2010 Pac-10 Media All-Conference team.

POSTSEASON AWARDS
       Oregon held its annual banquet on Feb. 28, and the Ducks issued a slew of awards for this year's roster.
    Senior guard Taylor Lilley was voted Team MVP for the second time in her career by her teammates. She was previously named team MVP following her sophomore season at the UO.
    Senior guard Micaela Cocks was voted the Offensive Player of the Year after taking home Team MVP honors a year ago.
    Sophomore guard Nia Jackson - who returned to the floor this season following her rehabilitation from an ACL injury - was named the Defensive Player of the Year.
    Junior forward Victoria Kenyon was voted the team's Most Improved Player after starting 27 games this season and averaging a career-best 7.0 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.
    Sophomore forward Amanda Johnson, who was recently was named to the 2009-10 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® University Division second team, was given the team's Harry Ritchie Scholar-Athlete Award, which honors athletic and academic abilities.
    The Green and Gold Award went to junior forward Ellyce Ironmonger for contributions on and off the court.

OREGON PAC-10 TOURNAMENT HISTORY
       The sixth-seeded Ducks and the third-seeded Trojans split their season series this year with UO getting the 85-77 victory at Galen on Jan. 30, while the Trojans got revenge at McArthur Court with an 87-84 win on Feb. 25.
    Oregon and USC have never met in the Pac-10 Tournament since its inception in 2002. The Ducks are 4-8 at the conference tourney all-time, and have only been the sixth seed once prior to this season. UO went into the 2007 Pac-10 Tournament at No. 6 and lost in the quarterfinals to third-seeded California, 63-51.
    Oregon has only advanced beyond the quarterfinals stage of the tournament on two occasions. In 2002 as the No. 7 seed and hosting the tourney at McArthur Court, the Ducks defeated Washington State 85-67 in the first round and went on to upset No. 2 Washington, 78-64, in the quarterfinals before losing to third-seeded Arizona State 64-58 in the semifinals.
    In 2005 in San Jose, Calif., at HP Pavilion, Oregon went into the tournament as the No. 2 seed and defeated seventh-seeded Washington 64-50 in the quarterfinals before being upset by third-seeded Arizona State, 54-47, in the semifinals.

PAC-10 TOURNAMENT SCENARIOS
       An Oregon upset over third-seeded USC on Friday would move the Ducks into the semifinal stage for just third time in Pac-10 Tournament history.
    Oregon could play one of three opponents in Saturday's semifinals. In the first round of the tournament to beginning on Thursday, No. 10 Oregon State and No. 7 Washington will play one another for the right to move on to the quarterfinals. The winner of that game would then play second-seeded UCLA and at 7:15 p.m., Friday. The winner of UCLA and the 7/10 winner, would then play Oregon - if the Ducks defeated USC - at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

USC SERIES
       USC (18-11, 12-6) enters the week on a completely different page than the Ducks, ending their regular season on a five-game winning streak.
    The Trojans swept Arizona and Arizona State at home last week, and sophomore guard Ashley Corral was named Pac-10 Player of the Week after averaging 14.5 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.
    Ties between the two clubs start with both programs' first-year head coaches. Oregon's Paul Westhead was the head coach of the 1980 Los Angeles Lakers NBA championship squad which USC head coach Michael Cooper was a part of. The two also coached against one another during the 2007 WNBA season, with Cooper leading the Los Angeles Sparks and Westhead leading the Phoenix Mercury.
    The pair went 1-1 against one another. Cooper has a pair of WNBA championships winning titles in 2001 and 2002 with the Sparks, while Westhead earned his in 2007 with the Mercury.

2009-10 USC-Oregon Season Series
   The sixth-seeded Ducks and the third-seeded Trojans split their season series this year with UO getting the 85-77 victory at Galen on Jan. 30, while the Trojans got revenge at McArthur Court with an 87-84 win on Feb. 25.
    Senior guards Taylor Lilley and Micaela Cocks were the most productive against the Trojans, averaging 29.0 points and 20.0 points per game, respectively.
    Both games were high-scoring affairs as Oregon averaged 84.5 points per game in the series and USC 82.0 ppg.
    Corral led USC averaging 22.5 points per game against he Ducks while Briana Gilbreath averaged 19.0 ppg in the season series.

USC Series History
ORE Record: 17-36
ORE at Home: 11-15
ORE on the Road: 6-21
ORE on a Neutral Court: 0-1
Streak: -1
Most ORE Points: 85 (Jan. 30, 2010)
Fewest ORE Points Allowed: 46 (Jan. 26, 2008)
Widest ORE Victory: 24, 77-53 (Jan. 8, 1999)
Longest ORE Win Streak: 5 (Feb. 27, 1997-Feb. 6, 1999)
Last ORE Win: 85-77 (Jan. 30, 2010)
Last ORE Home Win: 73-63 (Feb. 3, 2007)
Last ORE Road Win: 85-77 (Jan. 30, 2010

PRESEASON POLL
        Oregon was selected to finish eighth in both the Pac-10 Preseason Coaches' Poll and the Pac-10 Preseason Media Poll.
    The results are not a surprise citing UO's finish to the 2008-09 season which included dropping its final six games of the season and losing 10 of the final 11 tilts of the year.

OREGON'S CURRENT STATUS (RANKINGS AS OF 3/8)
•     Oregon (16-14, 7-11) is on a six-game losing streak and heads into the Pac-10 Tournament with the No. 6 seed, set to play No. 3 seed USC at 5 p.m., Friday. The top-six finish for the Ducks was UO's best mark in the Pac-10 since a sixth-place finish in 2006-07. It also guaranteed the Ducks a first-round bye at the Pac-10 Tournament.
•    The Ducks' last win in 2010 was a 82-81 victory over Arizona State at McArthur Court on Feb. 13. Since then, UO has dropped six straight, playing four of those contests on the road.
Category                  Final 6 Games    2009-10 Season
FG Percentage          .370                    .430
Points per game         66.3                    81.5
Opponents PPG         87.1                    77.1
Rebounding Margin    -15.0    -5.1
Opponents' turnovers 15.3    19.3
•    After leading the country in scoring the majority of the season, Oregon's 81.5 points per game rank fourth, as Oral Roberts leads the nation averaging 86.7 ppg.

Other top-25 national marks for Oregon include:
Category                                        Rank            Number
Three-Point FG Per Game                 No. 8          8.3
•    Oregon is averaging 81.5 points per game this season – close to a 25-point turnaround from last season's average of 56.6 points per game.
•    Taylor Lilley's 3.6 three-pointers per game lead the Pac-10 and rank third in the nation.
•     Micaela Cocks' 87.0 free-throw percentage ranks 16th in the nation.

RECORDS FALLING
    A multitude of records have fallen this year, here is a quick recap:
-     At Cal on Feb. 20, Taylor Lilley knocked down four 3-pointers to reach 93 on the season, setting a new Pac-10 single-season record and surpassing the old record of 92 which Arizona's Lisa Griffith had held since 1997.
-     On Feb. 11, Lilley completed the trio of Oregon 3-point records by breaking the single-season record against Arizona, surpassing Jamie Craighead's record of 81 set in 2001.
-     On Jan. 30 at USC, Lilley broke an Oregon single-game record draining nine 3-pointers. The previous record of eight three-pointers in a single game was shared by Lilley - who tied it against Washington on New Year's Day - Chelsea Wagner vs. Arizona on Feb. 9, 2006, and Jessica Schutt vs. Hawai'i on Nov. 26, 1993.
-    Lilley's nine from long distance also tied for the most 3-pointers scored by a player in a Pac-10 game. Stanford's Lindsey Yamasaki is the only other player to accomplish the feat, draining nine vs. Washington on Feb. 24, 2001.
-    Taylor Lilley's 254 career 3-pointers have set a new program record. Her total also ranks fourth in the Pac-10 all-time standings. Lilley broke the record on Jan. 1, in a win over Washington, surpassing Missy Croshaw's previous career record of 189 that was held for 16 years. Lilley's 658 career 3-point attempts are also a new UO record, passing Brandi Davis' mark of 535.
- Oregon has also knocked down 249 3-pointers as a team this season, breaking the previous mark of 194 set in 2002.
-    On Jan. 16 at Arizona, the Ducks and Wildcats obliterated the previous record for the highest scoring game in women's Pac-10 history. With Oregon on the losing end of a 119-112 decision, the 231 combined points bested the previous combo of 221 set by California (115) and USC (106) on March 10, 1989.
-    Oregon's 112 points were also the most scored by a losing team in Pac-10 history.
-    Nicole Canepa's career-high doubling 38 points scored at Arizona on Jan. 16, were the most an Oregon player has ever scored against a Pac-10 opponent. The mark also ties with Bev Smith and Debbie Adams for the UO single-game record.
-     Oregon's 119 points allowed at Arizona (Jan. 16) were the most the Ducks have ever surrendered. The previous record was 107 at Stanford on Feb. 25, 1989.
-    Last Friday, Oregon set a new single-game record for 3-point attempts with 36 in a 67-53 loss at Washington State.

JOHNSON NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN
    Oregon sophomore forward Amanda Johnson was named to the 2009-10 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® University Division second team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), it was announced on Feb. 23.
    Johnson, who has a 4.0 gpa and is a double major in Psychology and Sociology, is scheduled to graduate following the 2010 spring semester, and is currently in the process of applying for graduate programs. She is on track to finish with a Master's Degree at the end of her four years at the UO.

TRIO COMPLETED
    Senior guard Taylor Lilley now holds a trio of Oregon 3-point records with the single-game (9), single-season (108) an career marks (254) under her belt.
    Lilley is also the first player in Pac-10 women's basketball history to reach triple-digits for 3-pointers made in a single season with 108. She would need to reach 111 to break into the NCAA single-season top-10. The record of 126 is shared by Alabama State's Lisa McMullen (1991) and Robert Morris' Sade Logan (2008).
    Currently, Lilley's 1,338 career points rank fourth among active Pac-10 players and 10th all-time in UO history.
    Lilley leads the Ducks averaging 17.5 points per game, but has increased her average in Pac-10 games, scoring 19.2 ppg, trailing only Alexis Gray-Lawson of Cal.

ALL IN THE BACKCOURT
    Lilley isn't the only senior guard on the brink of breaking records. Micaela Cocks has now played in 121 career games for the Ducks, a total that ranks fourth all-time.
    Cocks also has eclipsed the 1,000-career point total in her career after a 14-point effort at UCLA on Jan. 28. Cocks is now the 22nd player in UO women's basketball history to reach 1,000 points, and currently her 1,160 career points total is 16th all-time.
    Cocks is averaging a career-high 14.9 points per game, and her 165 career 3-pointers rank fifth all-time for Oregon and fifth among active players in the Pac-10.
    The New Zealand native will also hold the best free-throw shooting percentage at UO when she leaves after managing an .861 (211-of-245) clip during her four-year tenure.

ACTION JACKSON
    Oregon sophomore Nia Jackson's healthy return has been vital for the Ducks this season.
    With defenses focusing on Cocks and Lilley, head coach Paul Westhead is urging Jackson to get to the basket. She is averaging 10.5 points per game, while her 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game lead Oregon. In fact, Jackson's 75 steals this season currently rank eighth in UO single-season history.

TEAM LEADER
    While just a sophomore, forward Amanda Johnson already has 10 career double-doubles - nine from this season - to her credit. The Santa Rosa, Calif., native is averaging 12.4 points and a team-leading 8.5 rebounds per game. Johnson's last double-double came against Washington State last Friday with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

WORLD VISION INVITATIONAL
    The Oregon women's basketball program would like to thank all fans that donated to “Operation Safety Net” during the World Vision Invitational.
    World Vision raised $1,083 during the tournament enough to provide a net of protection for 180 children and one adult. One net covers two people.