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Show TIIE UNlVER 1TY JOURNAL · SOUTHERN UTAH UNlVERSlTY · '.fHURSPAY, F£8.RUARY 11, 1999 Oral Roberts visits in key Mid-Con matchup By TI A ClARK RNAL PORTS WRITER J After corning off two tough losses on the road, the Lady 'Bird basketball quad now faces league leading Oral RobcnsThur day, Feb. 11 at 5:15 p .m. in the Centrum. The ladies finish the season with three home games, beginning with tonight's ORU game. The Lady 'Birds are currently in fifth place with a 5-6 record in the MJd-Con. With wins in their last games and lo e by Youngstown tatc and Oral RobertS, the ladie could advance a high as second place in the conference. "We have a chance to vault as high as second if we take care of bu ine at home, " Head Coach Joe Hillock said. The last time that the lady ' Bird and the Eagles met, the Eagle. ran away with a 82-56 win. The ladies shot a poor 3 1. percent while the Eagle hot 54.8 percent for the game. Sarah Pratt led the Lady 'Birds with 17 points and l O rebounds, and Krista Ragan led the Eagles with 19 points. Oral Roberts is tied for first with seven wins, but i a half game behind Young town tate and Valparaiso with a 74 onference record-one more lo than the other two. RU is coming off a 7 -65 los to Valparaiso. The Eagles are leading the Mid-Con in field goal percentage at 45.5 p rcent and are led by freshman guard Ragan averaging 17.0 points per game. Ragan wa named Mid-Con Player of the Weck this week as the third leading corer in the conference. ends its sea n with a 3-8 record on the road. enior forward Sunny Myers leads the Lady 'Birds in scoring with 13.5 points per game. Freshman Megan Lofthou e leads the team in three point shooting percentage and free throw percentage with a 38. three point percentage and a 82.3 free throw average. Junior Melis a Hines leads the conference in double· doubles with eight including two last week against Oakland and Young town State. Sophomore forward Sarah Pratt had her sixth double-double again t Youngstown. Hines and Pratt lead the conference in rebounding with 8.9 and 8.6 rebound per game re pectively. The ladie are fighting for a good seed for the tournament in two weeks, and Hillock feel the 'Birds can do it if they put their minds to it. "I look for us to get our confidence back and hopefully put some wins together and gain some momentum going into the conference tournament. I feel we tfll have a hot to win the conference ," Hillock aid. The Lady 'Birds have Saturday off before do ·ing out league play with home games again t Western lllinoi and Chicago tate. The ladies lost to WlU earlier in the ea on, but did beat Chicago tate. Track preps for championships By CHAD IAMB JOURNAL PORT EDITOR Th men 's and women 's indoor ti;ack team wiJI compete in their final regular season meet Jeremy Avila (left) hands off to James Finks at the Northern Arizona Invitational Saturday. 1he team heads to Pocatello this weekend to participate in the Mountain States Games on the campus of Idaho State niversity. of the eason as they travel to Pocatello, Idaho, co compete in the Mountain tate Game on the campu of Idaho Stace University. This will be the econd time this season the team ha competed in Pocatello. The team opened the ea on at the same ite, participating in the non- oring nake River Invitational. According co Head Coach Eric Houle, the team will once again be preparing for next week's Mid·Con championship. The Mountain tate, meet will also give the athlete another chance co improve on their times and cores in hopes of qualifying nationally for the CAA championship . The team is coming off another strong performance at NA over the weekend. ln the men 's 4x400 relay, the men's squad ca ily ran away with a fir r-place fini h, heating NAU by more than five seconds w ith a time of 3: I . 6 . Danny Bennet, Jeff Peter on, Jeremy Avila and Jame Fink were all part of a team that, according to Houle, bas the faste t time in the state and in the conference for the 4x400 relay. Gjai on White and Da e For berg both participated in the h ot put and the weight throw with good re ults . White finished sixth in the hoc put with a throw of 45 '08.50 and Forsberg fioi hed seventh with a throw of 4 ' 10.25. Ray Luke wa tops for the ' Birds in the high jump, jumping 6 '06 and tying for second-place. Chri Motley from Cal State orthridge had the best jump of the day at 6'08. Chri Ridding and Robert Bush also did well for in the high jump with jump of 6 '04 and 6 02 re pecti ely. For the women, Anna Bullock, the only ' Dird female to participate in the throwing events, frni hed ninth in the shot put with a throw of 7'06, and followed that with a sixth-place finish in the weight throw and a di ranee of 48'04 . Both throw help put Bullock into contention for a first-place finish in the Mid-Con championships next week. Kelley Biesinger finished 11th in the 60-meter high hurdles, but wa just .80 of a second from the top time of Michelle John n who ran unattached. In the mil.e, Teresa Rice ran a time of 5:13.08, good enough for second-place, and Mary Ann chauerhamer placed fifth in 5:21.33. Emma Measom finished third in the OO·meter dash and Biesinger placed 10th in the 200meter dash . Before the meet, Eric Houle aid be was not caking a full team to the meet, hut rather resting a few athletes in preparation for the meet in Idaho Saturday. Houle that mo c runner w ill only run one race, then rest so they are not too tired for next week. He is worried about the bad weather that has occurred here in ~edar , but will take the t.eam to t . George to practice. Gym nasts face Lady Aggies tomorrow here The U gymnastic quad faces the tah State Aggies for the econd time thi eason in a dual meet tomorrow night in the Centrum beginning at 7 p .m. For one of the Lady 'Birds gymnasts, Tamara Turley a the lead-0ff competitor for every SU meet and a enlor co-captain for the squad, she will be finishing her 14-year gymna tic career in April. Turley, a family con umer science major from M sa, Ariz., plays a key role in the success of the gymnastic team. . he has maintained a 3 .6 G.P.A. while being one of outhem Utah' most consistent athletes, according to Head Coach ott Bauman. Turley has qualified for the regional competition all three years and holds southern Utah's her hard work. "Tamara has one of second best finish ever at Regionals. the best work ethics I've ever While she aid he is excited about seen and that helps make her a her last year of gymnastics, it natural leader. She is aJ o a will be sad for her when tenacious competitor who has it is over. "Gymnastics supreme confidence in ha been a good help herself," said Bauman in decision making and in di cipline," said In her spare time Turley Tul"ley. enjoys many activities uch as pending time with her Even though the team family, dancing, has several gymna ts sitting volleyball and ultimate out because of injury, Turley said, "The team has worked fri bee. After graduation she aid she through a lot, grown, and ha plans to attend the gone through a phase of refinement which i going·to '1- '(v1leY . dietic program at Arizona polish us in the end.n 'fti11'"'1 State University where she will work fo r her dietician certificate. Bauman said that Turley is a Currently, Turley is focusing on the leader for the team and how it in I gymnastics season and aid she is looking forward to helping the team reach their goal of qualifying for Regionals. The ladies are coming off a good performance against top-ranked Utah where they finished with a total team core of 191.350. Heather lack finished third in the all-around with a 38.600. In their last meet with the Lady Aggies on Jan. 22, the Lady ' Birds scored a 189.700, but the team expects to finish with a higher score thi time around with the meet at home and three meet behind them. La t year in the Centrum, the Aggies came to Cedar City ranked in the top-25 and left with a los to the Lady 'Birds, 192.875-192.20. ' I · |