Oregon State
Idaho
Women's Hoops Drops Tough Decision To Idaho
January 02, 2000 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 2, 2000
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State squandered a 10-point halftime lead and a sensational first half performance by sophomore Ericka Cook Sunday afternoon at Gill Coliseum and fell 70-66 in OSU's final non-conference game of the season to the University of Idaho before 694 fans.
Cook scored 19 of the Beavers' last 21 points in the opening half en route to a career high 24 points, but unfortunately for Oregon State, Cook didn't get a lot of scoring help from her teammates as Cherrith Wiersma with 10 points was the only other Beaver player in double figures.
The defeat left Oregon State with a 4-8 record heading into the Pac-10 season opener with Oregon at Gill Coliseum on Saturday, Jan. 8, a game which will be televised live by Fox Sports Net at 1:00 p.m.
Idaho improved its record to 6-6 and was led by senior forward Alli Nieman who scored a game-high 30 points and added 8 rebounds. Nieman tallied 20 of her 30 points in the second half.
Oregon State led the entire game until guard Susan Woolf canned a 3-pointer to give the Vandals their first lead of the game at 62-61 with 3:43 to play. Idaho never relinquished the lead, although the Beavers were within one point (67-66) with 45 seconds remaining as Chassie Wiersma made one of two attempts at the line.
Woolf proved to be a thrown in OSU's side as she calmly stepped to the foul line and hit a pair of three throws with 10 seconds remaining to put the Vandals up 69-66. The Beavers lost a chance to tie the contest with 4.7 seconds remaining as Sissel Pierce was called for an offensive blocking foul before OSU could put the ball in play. She fouled Woolf who made one of two attempts to ice the contest.
"We hurt ourselves when we didn't convert a lot of lay-up attempts after steals to start the second half," said a disappointed OSU coach Judy Spoelstra. "Instead of increasing our lead, we let Idaho get back in the game. Ericka Cook had a great game but we didn't get enough scoring help from other players. Cherrith (Wiersma) was the only other player in double figures."
After producing four straight double-double games, Pierce was ineffective against the Vandals. The 6-4 senior center scored only 6 points and had four rebounds in 19 minutes of action before fouling out in the final 5 seconds of the game.
Meanwhile, Nieman and Woolf had outstanding games for Idaho. Nieman hit 11 of 23 shots from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers, while Woolf tallied 18 points, hitting 6 of 11 from the floor, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range.
After shooting only'333 in the first half, the Vandals shot'571 from the floor in the second half and wound up shooting'462. OSU shot'441 for the game.
As has been the case virtually the entire season for the Beavers, free throw shooting once again haunted OSU. The Beavers hit only 11 of 20 and Idaho connected on 15 of 22. OSU's best free throw shooter, Chassie Wiersma, could connect on only 2 of 4 in the final three minutes and Pierce missed a crucial free throw with 1:31 left which could have tied the game at 66-66.
Oregon State held a 37-34 advantage on the boards and had 15 steals, but the end result was the Beavers didn't make the plays down the stretch while Idaho did.
