Cal Makes Strong Showing, Faces Stanford Today

The 2003-04 season for California’s women’s basketball team will forever be defined by the death of junior forward Alisa Lewis, who fell victim to bacterial meningitis in January.

But the ninth-seeded Bears showed Friday they’re not ready to end their season as they eliminated eighth-seeded Oregon from the Pacific 10 Conference tournament, 82-57, in the opening round before 3,547 at the HP Pavilion. They move on to play top-seeded Stanford today.

Cal (12-16) made a tournament record 11 three-point field goals (in 19 attempts) against the conference’s best defender of the long-distance shot. Oregon (14-15) came into the game limiting opponents to a 31.1% shooting; Cal’s percentage on Friday was 57.9%.

Renee Wright’s 16 points led Cal, which had five players in double figures. Kiki Williams had 15 points and made all five of her three-point shots.

“I did say shooting is a problem in this arena, and I still believe that,” Cal Coach Caren Horstmeyer said. “But we knew Oregon would play zone against us ... we focused on making sure we took shots if we had them.”

Oregon’s Eleanor Haring had a game-high 18 points.

There was a two-minute video tribute to Lewis during the halftime.

Oregon State 67, Washington State 43 -- The seventh-seeded Beavers kept the 10th-seeded Cougars winless in the Pac-10 tournament.

Shannon Howell had 21 points for Oregon State (15-13), which moves on to play second-seeded Arizona in the quarterfinals today.

Oregon State did not shoot well (23 of 73, 31.5%), but built on its 33-22 halftime lead because it dominated Washington State (6-22) on the boards, 50-37, including a 26-12 offensive rebounding edge.

Washington State had only six baskets in the second half, and shot 15 for 43 (34.8%) for the game.

-- Mike Terry