Ducks hope to elevate game.

Byline: Rob Moseley The Register-Guard

LARAMIE, Wyo. - As even as the women's basketball teams from Oregon and Wyoming are stylistically and statistically, perhaps some other numbers will come into play for tonight's WNIT game between the two.

When the Ducks and Cowgirls tip off their 6 p.m. PDT third-round game tonight in the Women's National Invitation Tournament, the ball will be about nine feet above the court, which itself will be more than 7,200 feet above sea level. That makes Wyoming's Arena-Auditorium the highest elevation gym in Division I, and the Cowgirls are hoping to fill it with a crowd similar to the one 3,595-strong that watched their second-round victory over Missouri on Sunday.

Having practiced just three times since they beat UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, the Ducks (17-13) had no chance to prepare themselves for the thin air almost a mile and a half above sea level. Unable to confront the conditions, they appear dead-set on ignoring them.

"It's just something you have to mentally get over," said Eleanor Haring, the senior forward who leads Oregon in scoring. "Everybody's just been telling us to drink lots of water so we don't get dehydrated really quickly. It's just something we're going to have to deal with."

The Ducks are used to playing just a few hundred feet above sea level in Eugene. The last time they played close to this elevation was in December 2005, when they beat Colorado at about 5,400 feet in Boulder.

The Arena-Auditorium is nearly 2,000 feet higher, but UO coach Bev Smith pointed to the win over the Buffaloes as proof her team can deal with games at altitude.

"At Colorado last year, we went in with the idea that we're going to go in, we're going to run around for 40 minutes, and we'll get out," said Smith, who posted her 100th victory as Oregon's coach Saturday. "I think our players did a good job of that. I think they felt their lungs burn a little quicker, but we'll help them with (substitutions)."

Wyoming coach Joe Legerski downplayed the impact that altitude might have on opponents - "I really haven't" noticed an adverse effect, he said - but perhaps tellingly his team employs a methodical, halfcourt style.

What Legerski would dearly love, and has been openly campaigning for, is another big crowd. Sunday's was the second-largest of the season for the Cowgirls, who average 2,567 fans per home game and had a season-high of 5,025 for a rivalry game with Colorado State.

"Any time you get an opportunity to play in front of home fans, it's a plus for you," said Legerski, who as a former assistant at Utah tried to recruit current UO starters Kaela Chapdelaine and Carolyn Ganes to that program. "To have (nearly) 3,700 people in the building for the last game really gave a lot of energy for the team to feed off."

Like Smith, Legerski acknowledged the similarities between the Ducks and Cowgirls entering tonight's game. Both play sound defense and prefer low-scoring games, and both play motion offenses but will run if given the chance.

Wyoming (23-9) can't match the size of the 6-foot-3 Ganes or 6-6 backup Jessie Shetters, but on Sunday the Cowgirls outrebounded and defeated Missouri despite allowing 6-3 EeTisha Riddle to score 31 points and grab 12 rebounds.

Tonight's game, Legerski said, "is going to come down to who shoots the ball best from the perimeter."

From three-point range, the Cowgirls lead the Mountain West Conference at 36.3 percent, and Oregon leads the Pac-10 at 37 percent.

That's just one of numerous statistical similarities between the two. Ultimately, then, this game might not come down to how it is played, but instead whether the Ducks can deal with where it is played.

UO WOMEN AT WYOMING

6 p.m. today at the Arena-Auditorium. TV: None.

Radio: KUGN-AM (590).