Oregon State
Oregon
Gibson's Career Day Drops Ducks, 67-60
January 28, 2012 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2012
Coach Rueck Postgame Press Conference | Gibson and Bright Postgame Press Conference
Corvallis, Ore. (AP) – In her first taste of Civil War action, freshman Ali Gibson (Woodbridge, Calif.) scored a career-high 23 points to lead the Oregon State women's basketball team to a 67-60 win over rival Oregon on Saturday in Gill Coliseum in front of a crowd of 3,719.
Gibson finished the day shooting 53.3 percent (8-15) with three assists and three steals. Junior Patricia Bright (Phoenix, Ariz.) earned her second career double-double with 11 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, while junior Sage Indendi (Livingston, Mont.) scored a season-high 14 points.
Oregon State (13-7, 4-5 Pac-12) scored nine straight points on a trio of three-pointers in the final four minutes to take control in what had been a back-and-forth game throughout with 11 tie scores and 15 lead changes. Gibson's fifth three-pointer, tying her most in a single game, marked the go-ahead basket in the game.
“This was just a battle of a game,” head coach Scott Rueck said. “It was more of a defensive battle than probably anybody could have predicted. I was so proud of so proud of our defensive transition. We followed the game plan and had very few mistakes.
This game turned into a three-point shooting contest. At one point I thought, I don't know if we can win one of those against Oregon but we did. It was also just an incredible atmosphere. This was the most people that we've played in front of at home, and I'm so proud of our fans for coming out and supporting us the way they did. I give credit to Oregon for playing the game that they did. And I'm so proud of our team for gutting it out to then end when we certainly could have folded.”
Oregon State held Oregon (11-10, 3-6 Pac-12) to just three points in the last 3:48, shooting 24-of-54 (44.4 percent) from the floor while Oregon was 23-of-65 (35.4 percent) overall in the game.
Oregon State scored five straight points early in the second half to equal its biggest lead of the game to that point at 36-31. Oregon answered with an 11-2 run, going up 42-38 on Nia Jackson's layin with 11:08 remaining.
The Ducks later scored nine straight, the last six by Jackson, to go ahead 53-45 in just 1:14, but the Beavers came back with eight in a row, tying it on sophomore Alyssa Martin's (Portland, Ore.) lob to Gibson at the basket.
Jackson scored on consecutive possessions to put Oregon back ahead four.
Oregon State came back with its three three-pointers, by Indendi, Martin and Gibson, to go ahead 62-57.
“After we made the first three-pointer, we kept taking them, and they were falling,” Gibson said. “We also got a lot of good offensive rebounds down the stretch. We knew that if we got a defensive stop, we could bring offensive pressure to them and win. We have been down in many games, but we never stop fighting, let go or give up. We knew that if we pulled through and made some big plays, we could finish well.”
Oregon ended its late scoring drought went Jordan Loera's three-pointer with 27 seconds left cut the Ducks' deficit to 64-60.
Oregon State closed out the game at the free throw line, connecting on 5-of-8 attempts with Martin and senior Earlysia Marchbanks (Salem, Ore.) making perfect appearances at the line.
Oregon's Amanda Johnson, who missed the last 11 games after fracturing her left thumb, had 16 points and eight rebounds for Oregon, while Nia Jackson scored 12 points – all in the second half.
Oregon State continues its homestand, hosting Colorado in the inaugural Pac-12 matchup on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. in Gill Coliseum.
Oregon State Notes:
- The attendance of 3,719 is the most for a single game in Gill Coliseum since the 2006-07 season.
- Junior Patricia Bright earned her second career double-double with 11 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.
- Freshman Ali Gibson scored a career-high 23 points, tying her career-best eight field goals made and five three-pointers made.
- Sophomore Alyssa Martin tied her career-high for assists with five.
- Junior Sage Indendi had a season-high 14 points. She also had a season-high of six field goals made and needs one more three-pointer to move into fourth place for career three-pointers.
- Oregon State is now 11-2 when opponents score 60 points or less.
- The last time Oregon State beat Oregon two times in a row was during the 2008-09 season.
- The last time the Beavers defeated the Ducks at home in consecutive seasons was 2002-03 and 2003-04.
- Oregon State hasn't won a pair of consecutive conference games since 2008-09.
Support Oregon State University Athletics by making your tax deductible donation to the Beaver Athletic Student Fund. For more information follow this link or call 541-737-2370. Former student-athletes are invited to join the Varsity O Facebook Page for upcoming Alumni events.
Follow Oregon State Athletics on YouTube.
