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Oregon women’s basketball to face surging No. 9 USC Trojans led by JuJu Watkins

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Oregon women’s basketball to face surging No. 9 USC Trojans led by JuJu Watkins


Oregon (9-6, 0-2 Pac-12) at No. 9 USC (11-1, 1-1 Pac-12)

Time/date: Noon Sunday

Site: Galen Center; Los Angeles, California

TV: Pac-12 Network. Radio: KUGN 98.1 FM.

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About the matchup: The Ducks have been on the wrong end of two conference games so far, falling to Oregon State and UCLA by double-digits, and the road will get no easier at USC on Sunday. The Trojans have just one loss – to UCLA – and are ranked ninth in the latest AP Poll. If the Ducks want any hope of winning, they will have to rebound better than they did against the Bruins. Oregon was fourth in the Pac-12 in rebounding heading into conference play, and needs to assert its will inside to keep the game close.  

About the Ducks: Oregon guard and second-leading scorer Chance Gray sat out a lopsided defeat to UCLA with a concussion, and with her status in question the Ducks will need to find more scoring threats on the outside if they have any hope of defeating the Trojans. Through two conference games the Ducks have yet to crack 50 points.

About the Trojans: Fresh off their first loss of the season to unbeaten UCLA, the Trojans responded with a come-from-behind victory over Oregon State at home Friday, 56-54. USC goes as freshman phenom JuJu Watkins goes. She averages almost 27 points per game and is the undisputed leader of USC early in her collegiate career.

Oregon coach Kelly Graves on JuJu Watkins: “Well, she’s really gifted. No question about it. Where she can get better is to make everybody around her better, but right now with the ball in her hand she’s amazing, as good as I’ve seen at this age since I’ve been in women’s basketball. I saw (Kelsey) Plum when she was a freshman and Sabrina (Ionescu) when she was a freshman … Caitlin Clark. JuJu is really, really good.”

Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on Twitter @AlecDietz.

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Oregon

Bazzana, Macias lead No. 15 national seed Oregon State over UC Irvine 5-3 at Corvallis Regional

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Bazzana, Macias lead No. 15 national seed Oregon State over UC Irvine 5-3 at Corvallis Regional


CORVALLIS, Ore. — Travis Bazzana hit a two-run home run, Dallas Macias singled in a pair and No. 15 national seed Oregon State defeated UC Irvine 5-3 on Saturday night at the Corvallis Regional.

UC Irvine (44-13) will play Tulane (36-25) in an elimination game on Sunday. Oregon State (44-14) will play the winner in the nightcap. If the Beavers lose, a rematch will be played on Monday to decide the championship with a berth in the super regionals on the line.

Oregon State took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning after Elijah Hainline singled up the middle with one out and Bazzana sent a two-out, full-count pitch over the fence down the right-field line.

The Anteaters got a run back in the top of the fifth inning on back-to-back two-out doubles by No. 9 hitter Jo Oyama and Woody Hadeen.

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The Beavers answered with two runs in their half of the fifth to push their lead to 4-1. Macias’ two-out single plated Hainline and Mason Guerra, who led off the inning with singles.

Oregon State scored its final run on a double play in the seventh.

UC Irvine scored twice in the eighth on Caden Kendle’s RBI double and Anthony Martinez’s sacrifice fly.

Jacob Kmatz (7-2) surrendered just one run in a seven-inning start to pick up the win. He gave up three hits and a walk while striking out nine.

Trevor Hansen (6-4) took the loss after allowing four runs on eight hits and a walk in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out eight.

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Oregon State is aiming for its ninth regional championship. The Beavers have won three College World Series in seven appearances, posting championships in 2006-07 and 2018.

UC Irvine made CWS appearances in 2007 and 2014. The Anteaters won back-to-back championships in 1973-74 at the Division II level.



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Live updates: Oregon baseball takes on Santa Barbara in NCAA Tournament regional matchup

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Live updates: Oregon baseball takes on Santa Barbara in NCAA Tournament regional matchup


Fresh off an extra innings win over San Diego in their Santa Barbara Regional opener of the NCAA Tournament, the Oregon baseball team will play the host Gauchos Saturday night at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.

The Ducks (38-18, 19-11 Pac-12) have played Santa Barbara already this season, suffering a series loss, two games to one, back in March at PK Park. Santa Barbara’s coach, Andrew Checketts, is a former Oregon assistant and pitching coach from 2008-10 and graduated from West Linn High School in 1994.

“You look back and run through scouting reports on what they pitched to you in the past and what their pitchers did,” Oregon outfielder Bryce Boettcher said. “But it’s later in the season and it’s obviously a new series, so you definitely learn from it, but we’ve got to come out hot this weekend.”

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Follow along for updates as the Ducks take on the Gauchos.

Who are the announcers for Oregon baseball’s regional game against Santa Barbara?

  • Broadcast team: Mark Neely and Greg Swindell

How to watch Oregon baseball vs. Santa Barbara in Saturday regional matchup

First pitch is set for 7 p.m. Saturday in Santa Barbara.

The game will can be streamed on ESPN+.

Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @AlecDietz.





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Oregon school officials search for solutions to funding crisis

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Oregon school officials search for solutions to funding crisis


A Medford School District building in downtown on March 1, 2024.

Erik Neumann / JPR

School districts throughout Oregon are facing massive budget shortfalls, leading to big cuts.

School districts have blamed these shortfalls on declining enrollment, inflation, the end of emergency COVID money for schools, increasing special education enrollment and inadequate state funding.

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Superintendents for four school districts — Salem-Keizer, Portland, Bend-La Pine and Medford — recently released a video asking the state to reconsider its funding formula.

Speaking on JPR’s Jefferson Exchange on Wednesday, Bend-La Pine Superintendent Steve Cook acknowledged that the district has given much-needed cost of living adjustments to staff.

But he said the way that school districts calculate costs is different from how the state makes those funding calculations.

“It isn’t necessarily that we’re saying ‘fix the problem that we’ve created.’ We’re saying we want to draw attention to the fact that right now, there are decisions being made without all of the accurate and exact funding conversations being talked about,” he said.

Oregon’s 2 largest school districts are nearing the end of a fraught budget season

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For example, Cook and Medford Superintendent Bret Champion said the state does not adequately consider cost of living adjustments or how expensive it is to live in Oregon in its funding.

“It isn’t necessarily that the entire formula is broken. There’s some tweaks that we believe that can be made. And we believe that coming into the conversation with an open mindset about the true costs and what it takes to live here [is important,]” Cook said.

Bend-La Pine is cutting $21 million from its budget over the next two years, including about 60 positions this year, which Cook said will be accomplished through attrition, resignations and retirements.

In 2023, the state legislature allocated $10.2 billion in school funding for the biennium, the most ever.

But according to the Oregon Department of Education’s Quality Education Commission, the state has consistently failed to give enough funding for schools to provide a quality education.

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Medford School District approves budget cuts amid $15 million shortfall

The Medford School District is also facing a $15 million budget shortfall over the next two years.

Their budget for the upcoming school year cuts over 32 positions, and Champion said the budget for the following school year will be even worse.

“The school year after that, we’re done with the easier cuts. It’s going to be a dramatic change in service levels if we end up having to cut another $7.5 million in the next school year,” he said.

In addition, the Ashland School District will lay off about 19 staff at the end of this school year.

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