Oregon State
Utah
Beavers Clinch Share of Pac-12 Title
February 22, 2015 | Women's Basketball
SALT LAKE CITY - The No. 7/8 Oregon State women's basketball team locked down at least a share of the Pac-12 regular season title Sunday afternoon, as the Beavers defeated Utah 52-42 in Salt Lake City. The Pac-12 championship is the first in school history. The Beavers also broke a school record with 25 wins this season, as they improve their record to 25-2 overall, 15-1 in Pac-12 play.
“A moment like today causes you to reflect on the journey of the last five years,” said Oregon State head coach Scott Rueck. “It makes you think about all of these incredible student-athletes; all of the players that chose Oregon State when it wasn't the cool place to go. To see them rewarded like this makes me so happy.”
The OSU defense helped carry the team to the victory, as the Beavers were able to build a first-half advantage by holding Utah scoreless for a stretch of over 10 minutes. Oregon State would not relinquish the lead from there.
Junior Ruth Hamblin scored 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting, as she filled up the stat sheet yet again, pulling down eight rebounds and blocking seven shots. The performance was her 11th of the season with five or more blocks. Fellow junior Jamie Weisner scored 15 points and pulled down four rebounds.
Sophomore Sydney Wiese tallied nine points, going 5-for-5 from free-throw line, and dished out a game-high four assists. Junior Samantha Siegner came off the bench to score seven points on an efficient 3-for-5 shooting.
As a team, Oregon State shot 92.3 percent (12-for-13) from the free-throw line in the contest.
The teams traded baskets in the early going, reaching the midway point of the first half tied at 11. The Oregon State defense would clamp down from there, holding Utah scoreless for a 10-minute stretch. The Beavers would capitalize on the defensive crackdown, using an 11-0 run to jump out to a 20-11 lead. OSU would hang onto the advantage from there, taking a 24-17 lead into the break.
“Our identity is to make you play five on five,” Rueck said. “Ruth did a great job of slowing them down inside. We've played excellent defense all 80 minutes of this road trip, and that fueled our offense. You've got to give Utah credit, because they played great defense as well.
Hamblin led the Beavers with eight points and four blocks in the first half. Weisner entered the break with seven points.
Utah came out strong to open the second half, cutting the lead to four, six minutes in, but the Beavers responded to quickly extend the edge to nine. The Utes would continue to battle to keep the game within striking distance, but the Beavers were able to extend the lead to double-figures with five minutes remaining, and never looked back from there en-route to the 10-point victory.
The Beavers return home Thursday to take on Stanford at 6 p.m. at Gill Coliseum.
