Oregon State
UCLA
OSU Women's Hoops Squad Routs UCLA, 72-52
February 26, 2000 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2000
CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Oregon State's women's basketball team completed a sensational week by routing the No. 22 ranked UCLA Bruins, 72-52, before a screaming 2,137 fans at Gill Coliseum Saturday.
In the process, the Beavers moved into fourth place ahead of UCLA in the Pac-10 standings and are now only 1 1/2 games out of first place with three games remaining in the season. Two of the games are with teams ahead of OSU in the Standings. The Beavers meet Arizona, currently in third place, on Thursday night at Tucson and finish the season at Oregon on March 10. The Ducks are currently second in the Pac-10 at 11-4.
Oregon State is now 14-13 overall on the season and 10-5 in Pac-10. This is the same Beaver team that was 4-10 overall and 0-2 in the Pac-10 in the middle of January. Oregon State has won 10 of its last 13 games, five of its last six and six of its last eight games at Gill Coliseum.
It was senior night at Gill Coliseum and the Beavers' two graduating seniors went out with a bang.
Center Sissel Pierce, one of two seniors, holds the Beavers' Career record for blocked shots with 168, for season blocks with 77 and for a single game with 8, had a night to remember in her final appearance at Gill. Pierce led all scorers with 21 points and added 7 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.
The difference in the game, however, might have been OSU's 5-9 sophomore wing Felicia Ragland. Ragland produced 14 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 steals for her third double-double of the season and fifth of her career.
Oregon State went to intermission with a slim 27-24 lead in a game that had four lead changes in the first half., but the Bruins, as you would expect, came charging back in the second half. The Beavers jumped out to a six-point lead, 32-26, but UCLA went on a 12-2 run and a 38-34 lead.
The lead went back and forth for the next few minutes and OSU captured the lead for good at 47-45 on a 3-pointer by Chassie Wiersma to put the Beavers up 47-45. The Beavers kept building the lead and finished the game with their biggest margin at 72-52.
"The kids deserve all the credit tonight," said winning coach Judy Spoelstra. "They hung in there and played a very smart game. We put down one of our third goals tonight as the IQ factor and that was to take care of the basketball and made sure we made smart choices in transition."
Obviously, the Beavers listened to their coach as OSU had only 15 turnovers, compared to 19 by the Bruins. The Beavers picked off 11 steals and had 19 assists and held a 40-28 advantage on the boards.
OSU, the top defensive team in the Pac-10 and best rebounding club as well, shot .462 from the field and held UCLA to .346. Every time the Beavers hold a team under .400 shooting they have won this year.
OSU did a sensational job of the league's top scorer, UCLA All-American Maylana Martin. Martin was fresh from scoring 39 points at Oregon on Thursday night. Against OSU, she hot 8 points on a 3 of 12 shooting performance, but she did go over 2,000 points in her Bruin career with her fourth point of the game, but it took her until the second half to reach four points.
The victory over UCLA stopped an eight-game Bruin winning streak over the Beavers. The last victory for OSU over UCLA had been 82-70 at Corvallis in 1996. The Beavers are now 8-8 overall in the series with the Bruins in Gill Coliseum.
Reda Petraitis, OSU's other graduating senior, was part of the Beavers' defensive personnel assigned to Martin. Petraitis and Ericka Cook combined to hold Martin to 8 points and 5 rebounds. It was only the second time this season that Martin has been held under 10 points. Petraitis scored 7 points and had 3 rebounds for OSU in her final game in Gill Coliseum.
Cherrith Wiersma added 11 points and a career high 7 rebounds for the Beavers.
