ESPN.com - ncw - Wolvert in search of winning ways

At the moment, the Oregon senior forward is recovering from bronchitis. A couple of weeks ago, it was walking pneumonia, which made running up and down the floor a true huff-and-puff experience.

Before that, it was a sprained knee, which she suffered in a game against Washington. The injury forced her to leave the game and watch helplessly from the bench as her team beat the Huskies 62-53.

"Up until that game, I had played in every game in my college career," Wolvert said. "It's been really kind of tough. I wanted my senior year to go smoothly and I haven't had that opportunity."

Things are not going smoothly in Eugene. The Ducks are facing a must-win weekend at home against the Washington schools in order to have a hope of defending their Pac-10 title. The league's two-time defending champion is going to hard pressed to three-peat.

"This season has been a roller-coaster ride and we can't seem to get off," said Wolvert, who scored a career-high 32 points on 11-for-19 shooting in the Ducks' one-point loss to Washington State on Thursday.

Oregon is 5-7 (12-10 overall), out of the Top 25 rankings and four games off the pace of conference leaders Arizona State, Stanford and Washington. The Ducks initially looked to be adjusting well to the loss of 1999-2000 Pac-10 Player of the Year Shaquala Williams to another dreaded ACL injury just before the season started. Wolvert was one of the reasons why.

Wolvert and fellow seniors Jenny Mowe and Brianne Meharry make up one of the most vaunted post combinations in the nation.

Wolvert leads her team in scoring at 13.6 points a game and is third in rebounding behind Mowe and Meharry at 4.3.

All of Wolvert's ailments, however, are catching up to her. She is averaging just 23 minutes a game so far this season, but has scored in double figures in 14 of those games.

	SEASON OF SENIORS
	The Class of 2001 -- which includes Tamika Catchings, Svetlana Abrosimova, the Miller twins and dozens of other standouts -- is touted as one of the best in history. But before we say goodbye to this talented group, ESPN.com will take a closer look at several of these super seniors. The Season of Seniors began over the summer and will resurface throughout the season.

"This just hasn't been a typical season for me," Wolvert said.

The Camas, Wash., native would like to think her All-Pac-10 junior season, in which she hit 58 percent of her shots from the field and finished second on her team in scoring and first in rebounding, was a much better indication of her talents.

"Up until this year, I have been able to meet my goals," Wolvert said. "I wanted to achieve a lot more as a senior and I don't think I will be able to do that, but I'm OK with that."

Her maturation as a player has been a process. She was something of a problem-child for coach Jody Runge as a freshman and got into a shouting match with an assistant coach as a sophomore.

"I think coming out of high school she was able to do a lot of things because of her athletic ability," Runge said last season. "There were a lot of things we wanted her to do that were not just playing freelance basketball. I think she didn't like the control and she fought it."

It has helped that Wolvert's parents are only a two-hour drive away, providing easy-access support. Their close proximity is the reason Wolvert chose Oregon over Arizona without even making a campus visit.

Wolvert clearly covets a professional basketball career and scouts will find her quick post moves and nose for the basket plenty appealing. She hopes it will begin in the WNBA, but she is prepared to go overseas. Well prepared, in fact.

Wolvert is a Spanish major.

"If I don't play pro here, then I hope I can go to Spain," Wolvert said. "I need to work on my ball-handling more and I need to be able to shoot an outside jumper. But a high-post jumper wouldn't be anything new for me. I just need to spend more time at practice."

And hopefully, she'll avoid the injury bug.

Michelle Smith of the San Francisco Examiner is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.

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