Oregon State
Colorado
Women's Basketball Suffers 68-60 Loss At Colorado
December 19, 1999 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 19, 1999
BOULDER, Colo. - Sissel Pierce scored a career-high 24 points and added 12 rebounds for her second consecutive double-double, but the Oregon State women's basketball team dropped a 68-60 decision to Colorado at the Coors Events Conference Center on Sunday afternoon.
After leading 38-32 at halftime, Colorado opened the second half on a 9-2 run to extend its lead to 47-34, its largest of the game. OSU edged within four points three times, the last at 62-58 with about 2:30 left in the game, but couldn't quite close in on the Buffaloes (4-4).
"I was very proud of our starting group. They contributed very positively, but we just couldn't overcome that deficit," said coach Judy Spoelstra.
The Beavers (3-6) committed 24 turnovers to Colorado's 18. CU also capitalized on 17 of 21 free throw opportunities, while OSU made just nine trips to the line, successfully hitting five of its free throws.
"We made a lot of young mistakes. They had 21 trips to the free throw line and we only had nine," Spoelstra said. "We can't be making those young mistakes. We need to treat our freshmen like seasoned sophomores. We have to rely on them when we're down to nine players."
The Beavers were without sophomore guard Chassie Wiersma, who sprained her ankle in practice on Saturday.
The Beavers got the majority of their offense from Pierce and Felicia Ragland, who just missed a career-high by one point. Ragland finished with 20 points on 7-11 shooting and a 5-6 performance from the charity stripe.
Pierce, who scored in double figures for the fourth straight game, also added six blocked shots. That gave her 116 for her career, which ties her with Jan Martin (1980-83) for third place on OSU's career blocked shots list.
OSU opened the game with a 15-10 lead after seven early lead changes, but Colorado then got three consecutive field goals from three different players to take a 16-15 lead with 11:06 remaining in the first half. Pierce, who had already scored the last eight OSU points, responded with a field goal of her own to put the Beavers back on top.
But with OSU leading, 20-19, CU put together a 10-0 run and never lost its lead heading into halftime. The Beavers threatened to come back as a Ragland field goal made it 34-32, but CU's Mandy Nightingale scored the final four points of the half to give the Buffaloes a 38-32 lead at the break.
The Beavers shot 45 percent (26-58) for the game, well above their season average, but CU was nearly as accurate at 43 percent (24-56). Both teams had nine steals, while CU had 20 assists to OSU's 16.
Lake Oswego's Sabrina Scott had 17 points and a team-best nine rebounds for CU, and Jenny Roulier added 20 points to lead the Buffaloes.
The Beavers continue their Colorado road trip with a game at Colorado State at 7 p.m., Tuesday, December 21.
