It\u2019s much easier for Ruthy Hebard to get recognized for her skills now that she\u2019s at Oregon.<\/p>\n
The Ducks freshman forward grew up in Fairbanks. She was a prep standout there, but to develop as a player and get attention on a bigger stage, it was a seven hour\u2019s drive south to play with an Anchorage team during the summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a best friend who lived in Anchorage, so I\u2019d go down for maybe a week and stay with them, and I\u2019d fly back and forth a few times. I\u2019d do the camps for sure. I definitely travelled a lot during the summers,\u201d she laughed.<\/p>\n
Logging all those miles paid off for the 6-foot-3 Hebard, who is now drawing the attention of Oregon\u2019s opponents.<\/p>\n
Already a starter, Hebard\u2019s shooting percentage is 74.7 percent \u2014 second only to national leader Lanay Montgomery, a senior at West Virginia who is hitting 75 percent from the floor.<\/p>\n
Hebard ranks among the Pac-12\u2019s top 15 for scoring with 13.8 points per game, and she\u2019s ranked sixth overall for rebounding with an average of 8.7 a game. She\u2019s got four double-doubles.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew she was really talented, but yeah, she\u2019s come along a little bit maybe quicker than we thought,\u201d coach Kelly Graves said after a game earlier this season. \u201cThis was a big jump, so we didn\u2019t know. But she\u2019s just been terrific.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ducks, who were ranked earlier this season for the first time since 2003, open Pac-12 conference play on Friday against No. 9 Washington (13-1, 1-0). Oregon (10-2) will likely be without two key players, sophomore point guard Maite Cazorla and freshman Sabrina Ionescu, because of injuries.<\/p>\n
Conference play promises to be tough across the league. A record seven Pac-12 teams are ranked this week, and two teams remain undefeated.<\/p>\n
Even if they aren\u2019t quite ready to be among the league\u2019s elite, the Ducks\u2019 future looks bright. Hebard was part of a recruiting class that was ranked one of the best in the nation.<\/p>\n
Ionescu, considered the No. 4 overall recruit in the country, has already made an impact, like Hebard. She has had two triple-doubles so far this season, joining Northern Illinois\u2019 Ally Lehman as the only Division I players in the country with two.<\/p>\n
Graves also brought in forward Sierra Campisano, a 6-3 forward who averaged 30 points a game for her high school in San Diego.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw some of the girls play summer ball, and I wanted to be their teammate,\u201d Hebard said about her decision to come to Eugene.<\/p>\n
Hebard also played hockey as a youth growing up in Fairbanks, but in middle school basketball became her sport. At West Valley High School she averaged 25.9 points and 15.1 rebounds her senior season.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s the only player from West Valley whose number has been retired.<\/p>\n
Hebard says the thing that has been the most surprising about college ball is the fact that she\u2019s already starting for the Ducks. She credits fellow forward Jacinta Vanderberg, a senior starter, with guiding her into the role.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I could help the team, but I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be starting \u2014 at all,\u201d she said. \u201cJacinta definitely built my confidence up. You can see it on the court how she helps everyone, and especially the post players.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hebard thinks the Ducks overall are underrated \u2014 and that they could turn out to be one of the surprises of the league.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike Coach Kelly always says, it doesn\u2019t matter what the rankings are,\u201d she said, \u201cWe just have to keep doing us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s much easier for Ruthy Hebard to get recognized for her skills now that she\u2019s at Oregon. The Ducks freshman forward grew up in Fairbanks. She was a prep standout there, but to develop as a player and get attention on a bigger stage, it was a seven hour\u2019s drive south to play with an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-12752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12752\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12752"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=12752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}