Oregon State
Stanford
Stanford Women Rally To Avoid Upset By Oregon State
February 12, 2000 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2000
CORVALLIS -- A pair of desperation 3-point baskets by freshman Jamie Carey saved the 24th ranked Stanford Cardinal from being upset here Saturday night at Gill Coliseum by the Oregon State Beavers before 2,361 fans as Stanford prevailed 58-54.
It was heartbreak for Oregon State as the Beavers led entire second half until Carey pulled off the first of what looked like a desperation shot to beat the shot clock to bring Stanford within one point of OSU at 50-49 with 3:14 to play.
Senior Milena Flores then gave the Cardinal their first lead of the second half with a steal and lay-up for a 51-50 Stanford lead with 2:43 to play. Carey then put the dagger in OSU's heart next. With the clock running down, Carey once again appeared to fire a desperation 3-point effort, and once again, the ball went through clean to give Stanford a 54-50 lead with 2:01 to play and the hill proved to be too much for the Beavers to overcome.
The Victory left Stanford with a 15-6 overall record and a conference mark of 8-3 and a tie with Oregon for second place in the Pac-10 Conference. The great effort by Oregon State came up short and left the Beavers with a 10-13 overall record and a 6-5 conference mark and a fifth place tie with Arizona State.
It was the 11th straight Cardinal victory over Oregon State and fifth straight at Gill Coliseum.
"A lot of their 3-point shooters just came alive at the end of the game," said Judy Spoelstra, the Beavers' head coach. "I felt our people were covering Stanford and we had our hands up pretty good. They have excellent 3-point shooters and when you are looking for 3-pointers you are going to bury some of them. Lauren St. Clair is a 50 percent shooter on the season from 3-point range.
"I was really proud of our kids," said Spoelstra. "It hurt us when Chassie Wiersma picked up her fourth foul as she was really playing well and when we had to sit her down I think it cooled her off a bit when we were able to put her back in the game."
Oregon State, which had won six of its last eight games, gave the Cardinal everything they wanted, but simply couldn't make the big shot at the end.
The difference in the game came down to the fact Stanford hit 8 of 19 shots from 3-point range while OSU connected on only 4 of 17 from the arc. Other than 3-point shooting, the game was virtually even. Stanford shot .407 overall and the Beavers shot .396 overall.
Oregon State won the battle of the boards, 37-30, with Reda Petraitis and Felicia Ragland each pulling down nine rebounds. Stanford turned the ball over 14 times and the Beavers 16 times.
The loss also overshadowed an outstanding performance by OSU's senior center, Sissel Pierce. Sissel produced four blocked shots to give her 69 blocks on the season, which ties the Beavers' single-season record, also held by Carol Menken-Schaudt in 1981. Pierce had a 10-block weekend and has hiked her own career record to 160.
Pierce also led both teams in scoring with 18 points. The problem for the Beavers is that Pierce was the only OSU player with any consistency scoring. The Beavers' leading scorer, Ragland, tallied only 5 points and connected on only one field goal in 11 attempts, and that was on a breakaway steal and lay-up.
Oregon State had an eight point lead (40-32) with 11:24 to play in the game and a seven-point lead with 8:57 to play and had all of the momentum on its side. However, following a timeout, the Cardinal was able to go on a 6-0 run and pull the game within one (44-43) with 6:43 to play and that proved to be a back breaker for OSU.
Oregon State will return to action on Thursday, traveling to the state of Washington to meet Washington on Thursday night and Washington State on Saturday.
