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Echo’s
Davis Playing Vital Role for Eastern Oregon Women
Published: February 29, 2004
Joe McHaney, The East Oregonian
LA GRANDE - One might think a basketball
player who doesn't earn first-team all-league honors at the Class 1A
high school level might struggle at the collegiate level.
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Candice
Davis (#54) |
Tell that to Eastern Oregon University's
Candice Davis, who graduated from Echo High School in 2002 and is
thriving on a successful college team, but was never named to the Big
Sky Conference first team.
Davis has had a big hand in the
Mountaineer women's success this year. Eastern Oregon is ranked 16th
in the NAIA Division II coaches poll after winning the Cascade
Collegiate Conference regular season title. Friday, Davis scored 18
points in a 79-64 win over Oregon Tech in the CCC tournament
semifinals. The Mountaineers, who have won 18 straight games, will
take a 25-2 overall record into Monday's conference championship game
against Warner Pacific at 7 p.m. at Eastern's Quinn Coliseum.
"I definitely pride myself on that
and let my play speak for itself," Davis said.
"She was a little scared about
playing, coming from a small-town like Echo, but she has started all
season and played a vital role," said Eastern head coach Anji
Weissenfluh, who was named the CCC Coach of the Year. "She is
just a great athlete and very versatile."
The Mountaineers have already clinched a
spot in the NAIA Women's Division II National Tournament in Sioux
City, Iowa, March 10-16.
"We really don't look ahead and we
take one game at a time," Davis said. "Right now, we want to
win the conference tournament and then we'll worry about the national
tournament."
Davis (a 5-foot-9 sophomore forward)
helped the Mountaineers earn their 17th-straight victory Tuesday over
Albertson in the first round of the conference tournament, posting a
game-high 19 points on 8 of 10 field goal shooting to reach the game
with Oregon Tech.
"That was probably my best game of
the season considering it was in the playoffs," Davis said.
Davis was at the top of her game Dec. 5,
when she scored in a career-high 31 points against Whitman College,
the highest individual point total of the season for the Mountaineers.
Davis has also led the team in rebounding four times and scoring three
times.
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Candice
Davis (EOU #54), with teammate
Michelle Kinley (#32) looking on. |
She is third on the team at 9.8 points per
game average and grabs 4.4 rebounds per game. She averaged 3.6 points
per game as a freshman. "I think because she played several
positions in high school, she can do all the things we ask of
her," Weissenfluh said. "I don't think if she attended a
bigger school she would have been able to play a variety of
positions."
Davis was also on the receiving end of a
special moment and record-setting play Feb. 20. She hit a mid-range
jumper in the second half against Western Baptist on a pass form
Tricia Haddock, who recorded her 500th assist and became the first
Mountaineer women's basketball player to reach 500 assists in her
career.
"It's awesome playing on this team
and we've shared a lot this season," Davis said.
Davis is not the only player from a
small-town making major contributions for the Mountaineers. Jamie Jo
Cant of Imbler leads the squad in scoring at 13.0 points per game and
Christie Weaver of La Grande scores 8.3 points per game.
"The team chemistry is fantastic and
these girls really know how to play together," Weissenfluh said.
Davis said she loves Eastern as a school
and said despite all the time she puts into basketball there is always
time for schoolwork.
"It's awesome up here and I love
playing for this team," Davis said. "I am excited for the
next two years and my goals are to earn conference honors and help
this team win."
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