Smith bulks up experience factor.

Byline: Rob Moseley The Register-Guard

The Oregon women's basketball team got a needed injection of experience Thursday when Rita Kollo joined the program.

Kollo, a 6-foot wing from Hungary, will practice with the Ducks as a redshirt this upcoming season and will play her final season of eligibility as a senior in 2008-09. She plays the small forward position manned by Oregon's only current senior, Kaela Chapdelaine, and gives the team a second senior for '08-'09, along with point guard Tamika Nurse.

"She's a pretty good fit for us, and I think she has a really good mentality," said UO coach Bev Smith, whose team begins practice Oct. 15. "I like the way she plays the game, and also how she thinks about the game."

Kollo spent two seasons in the highly regarded program at Colby (Kansas) Community College after coming to the United States in 2004. She set school records for scoring average in a career (20.4) and season (21.0), and earned all-America honors.

She spent last season at Oklahoma State, where she started in eight of her 21 appearances and averaged 3.4 points and 2.4 rebounds in 14.7 minutes.

The Cowgirls went 20-11 and qualified for the NCAA Tournament, but Kollo didn't think her role as an outside shooter for a fastbreak team was the right fit.

"I came to the decision I had to do something about it," she said in a phone interview from her parents' new home in Austria.

Through a contact in Hungary who knew Smith and UO assistant Phil Brown, Kollo connected with the Ducks. Smith was already on the look out for an experienced junior college transfer to join a team that will boast six freshmen this season, and she remembered Kollo from her days at Colby.

"She's a big, strong player," Smith said. "She can score. She's a very good shooter, but she can put the ball on the floor and fits our style of play, both offensively and defensively."

Kollo left Oklahoma State in May and joined her parents in Austria. Two weeks later, she began training with Hungary's U21 national team, which finished seventh at the World Championships in Moscow.

Kollo averaged 9.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.3 points in eight games, including a 21-point game against Australia.

"I really like the three and four positions, more the three," said Kollo, referring to the small forward and power forward spots, respectively. "I like to be a little bit free because I can shoot the three or go inside, since I started out as a post player. I think I would say I'm a team player, and I really hustle on the floor. If I see the mismatch, I would go inside.

"If I'm shorter than the player who is guarding me, I would shoot the three. And I like to get rebounds."

She's scheduled to fly in on Sept. 8, and make her first visit to Eugene. Redshirting this season "is the hardest thing for me," Kollo said, but the prospect of joining the Ducks has had her excited since her first meeting with the UO staff.

"Everything after that came naturally," Kollo said. "It was a good deal."