Oregon State
Oregon
Beavers Unable To End Duck Streak
March 10, 2000 | Women's Basketball
March 10, 2000
EUGENE, Ore. - Oregon wrapped up its first outright Pacific-10 Conference women's basketball championship by taking a hard-fought 60-53 Civil War victory over the Oregon State Beavers before a capacity crowd of 9,087 at McArthur Court Friday night.
The victory was not without a little controversy, however. The Beavers had a 3-point basket by Reda Peraitis taken away with :14 seconds remaining in the game that would have brought OSU within one point at 57-56. The Beavers' head coach, Judy Spoelstra, called a time-out from the bench, but official Mazetta Garrett's whistle blew when Petraits' shot was halfway to the basket.
Taking away the 3-pointer sealed the victory for Oregon, which finishes the regular season at 23-7 and on top of the Pac-10 standings with a 14-4 record. Meanwhile, OSU's valiant fight to gain a post season berth was wiped out with the defeat. The Beavers finished the season with a 14-16 overall record and a 10-8 Pac-10 record, which leaves OSU no worse than fifth place in the conference.
"We were unorganized on offense and I went to call a time-out so I could get a play organized," said Spoelstra. "But regardless of when I called it, when she (Garrett) blew the whistle the ball was halfway in flight. There could have been a lot of calls going a lot of ways, but in a three minute stretch we didn't get one. You can't tell me they (Oregon) went a whole game and only fouled eight times and we end up shooting 5 for 5. That's the game right there at the free throw line."
Despite the frustrating ending to the season, it was a remarkable comeback year by the Beavers, a team that was 4-8 in preseason and 4-10 after the first weekend of the conference season.
OSU had to play its final three games of the season on the road, with two against ranked teams, Arizona and Oregon. The Beavers lost by two points to the Wildcats in overtime and took the Ducks to the wire before losing.
If Oregon State could have won one of the three games, it likely would be hosting a women's NIT contest next week. Instead, the season is over and two Beaver players performed in their final game in a OSU uniform Friday night.
Center Sissel Pierce nearly had a double-double, finishing with 8 points and 15 rebounds, the second best rebounding total of her career. Pierce also had 4 blocked shots and improved on all of her OSU records in blocked shots. She completes her career with 176 blocks, 85 season blocks and 8 in one game, all Beaver records.
Pierce ranks fourth in career blocks in the Pac-10 and sixth on the Pac-10 single-season list.
Petraits, OSU's other senior, had 15 points and 8 rebounds.
The game was tied six times and the lead changed hands 14 times in the seesaw battle. The Ducks biggest lead of the night was the final score. The Beavers had 5-point leads twice.
Felicia Ragland had 12 points and 7 rebounds for OSU, the only other player in double figures. The Beavers shot .383 fromthe field and held Oregon to a .382 shooting percentage. It was the first time this season that OSU lost while holding an opponent under .400 shooting.
Rebounding favored the Beavers 36-35. OSU committed 21 turnovers and the Ducks 20. The big difference was at the free throw line where OSU was 5 for 5, while Oregon hit 16 of 21.
