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Coach Graves on Civil War Spotlight: "It's Great for Women's Athletics"

Love Cross
/
KLCC

It might be considered a rivalry, but the Civil War series between the Oregon and Oregon State women’s basketball teams is a celebration of Oregon as a whole. That was part of the message from Ducks coach Kelly Graves after his team topped the Beavers 76-64 on Friday night in a sold-out Matthew Knight Arena.

Coach Graves, addressing a large media crowd after the victory, said he has seen such an increase in attention and fans- and everyone is engaged. He was proud that even Duck fans were cheering for Beaver players during introductions. Graves said “I know it’s a heated rivalry, but we are all Oregonians- in terms of who we play for.”

This was the seventh straight crowd of more than 10,000 for Oregon this year, and the first to sell out all 12,364 seats. Graves, in his sixth year, said having the energy of the crowd, as well as WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, WNBA managers and coaches, Oregon Governor Kate Brown, and Representative Peter DeFazio there helped make it a unique night. He said “I think it’s great for women’s athletics, it’s great for the University of Oregon, for Oregon State, it’s great for college basketball. This was an awesome night. This might not be duplicated anywhere in the country- what we just witnessed and saw.”

No. 7 Oregon State has a chance to even the 2-game series with No. 4 Oregon when the teams meet Sunday afternoon in a sold-out Gill Coliseum in Corvallis. The 1:00 game will be televised on ESPN2.

Copyright KLCC, 2020

Love Cross joined KLCC in 2017. She began her public radio career as a graduate student, serving as Morning Edition Host for Boise State Public Radio in the late 1990s. She earned her undergraduate degree in Rhetoric and Communication from University of California at Davis, and her Master’s Degree from Boise State University. In addition to her work in public radio, Love teaches college-level courses in Communication and Sociology.