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Oregon State looking for respect
By Maureen Mullen, Special to CNNSI.com Oregon State doesn't have any expectations to live up to. Despite posting a 10-8 conference record last season that was good enough for fifth place in the Pac-10 conference, the Beavers were still picked to finish a miserable ninth in this season's conference race. However three weeks into the season, OSU and in-state rival Oregon are the only teams remaining in the conference with perfect records. The backcourt duo of junior Felicia Ragland and sophomore Nicole Funn has been a major force behind the Beavers' early season success. The two combined for 102 points in just two games this weak for OSU, leading their team to wins over Ohio University and Marquette. "Fee [Felicia Ragland] gets in a zone and she's unstoppable. I think she is one of the top players in the country right now," said the Beaver's head coach Judy Spoelstra . "Nicole [Funn] is also playing tremendous basketball. Teams will try to focus on one of them but then the other one steps up -- they can't keep up with both of them." Ragland, an All-Pac-10 selection last year, was expected to fill a major leadership role for OSU this year and hasn't skipped a beat, tallying double figures in each of her last twelve games. Funn, whose freshman campaign went largely unnoticed, is a bit more of a surprising factor in the Beaver lineup. The sophomore's 35-point, 10-rebound performance over Ohio combined with her 16-point, 8-rebound performance over Marquette, earned the guard Pac-10 Player of the Week honors. The rest of the conference better watch out. If Ragland and Funn continue to illuminate the scoreboards and their teammates remain consistent, OSU could muscle up some major upsets this season. Racking up the honorsWhile many conference players have distinguished themselves in the early season, none have racked up as many honors as Washington State senior Katie Nyseth . The 5-foot-3 guard currently averages 7.3 points and 4.3 rebounds as a starter for the Cougars, and matches her on-court dynamics with perhaps even more spectacular showings in the classroom. At the advent of the Rutgers Coca-Cola Classic Tournament, Nyseth was named as the scholar-athlete award winner for her basketball skills as well as her 3.86 GPA as a biological systems engineering major at WSU. After putting up an average of 10 points, five rebounds, 4.5 assists and two steals over the weekend, earning all-tournament honors as well. Most recently the senior was named to the second team all-America Women's Basketball Farm team for players that come from agricultural backgrounds. For the Sun Devils junior transfers Melody Johnson and Amanda Levens continue to heat up the weekly box score. Another two games down, and two more double figure performances for each of the conference newcomers. Both were named to the ASU Holiday Classic all-tournament team, for the duo's second straight early season all-tournament honors. Teamwork worksTara VanDerveer's Cardinal have learned quickly that there is no need for a superstar. After narrowly squeaking past should-have-been-easy contests over St. Joseph's and University of the Pacific last week, due in large part to the one-woman scoring shows of Bethany Donaphin and Nicole Powell . Stanford looked much closer to championship form in blow-out wins over San Francisco and UMass this week."Our team has weathered some storms and realized that we want to play more people," said VanDerveer, who netted her 350th Stanford win on Sunday. In the win over San Francisco seven players on the Cardinal roster tallied double figures, and scoring was similarly distributed in the win over the Minutewomen on Sunday. Players such as 6-foot-6 center Carolyn Moos and junior guard Lindsey Yamasaki , who have made strong contributions in the past, are finally starting to find their game. With a two-week break for finals the Cardinal looks to channel the energy from its five straight home wins into quality practice before meeting No. 2 Tennessee and No. 6 Purdue on the road before the Christmas holiday. Novel newcomerWashington freshman Giuliania Mendiola is quickly distinguishing herself as one of the premiere rookies in this years freshman class. Filling the void of injured sophomore Loree Payne , the guard established herself as a force to reckon with averaging 14.5 points, nine rebounds and five assists in the Huskies road wins over Boise State and Oklahoma State, including a double-double performance at OSU.Mendiola's mother played on the Peruvian national basketball team, while her father played semi-professional soccer in New York. One of nine children, Mendiola's older sister Gioconda is also a freshman guard for Washington after taking a year off before coming to school.
Dominating DucksHeading into a contest against No. 25 Texas on December 9th, Oregon's fleet of inside power quacked their way into No. 10 in the AP rankings this week. Behind the play of Angelina Wolvert, Jenny Mowe and Brianne Meharry the Ducks remain as the only team in the conference to survive two top 25 teams. The three post players have shot an impressive combined 61.8 percent from the field for Oregon.
Maureen Mullen is a reporter for The Stanford Daily, the student newspaper of Stanford University.
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