Oregon State
California
Hanson, Beavers bury Bears
January 16, 2016 | Women's Basketball
Corvallis, Ore. – Junior guard Gabriella Hanson (pictured) set new career highs with 20 points and six assists on Friday night to lead Oregon State to a 70-48 rout of California in a Pacific-12 Conference game before a Gill Coliseum crowd of 2,891.
Senior guard Jamie Weisner added 16 points and senior center Ruth Hamblin had 15. Both players also just missed double-doubles, as they grabbed nine rebounds apiece.
"I loved our performance tonight," said Oregon State head coach Scott Rueck. "Cal is an athletic team and they are a unique matchup any time that you play them. I thought we excecuted really well and I loved the aggressiveness that we started the game with on both ends of the floor."
It was the third consecutive victory for the 12th-ranked Beavers (13-3, 4-1 Pac-12), who likewise earned back-to-back win over the Golden Bears (10-6, 1-4) for the first time since winning three straight in the 2002 and 2003 seasons.
Hanson scored 13 first-half points and finished 8 of 12 from the field and 4 of 7 from deep. Her previous high for scoring was 19 points, most recently against Cal Poly on Dec. 21, 2015.
Her previous high for assists was five, most recently against Idaho on Dec. 12, 2015, and her four 3-pointers matched her career high. She has scored in double figures in five of her last seven games and is averaging 13.1 points per game over that span.
The Beavers held Cal to .339 shooting from the field (20-59) and .238 (5-21) from beyond the arc in another standout defensive effort. It was the fourth time in five Pac-12 games, and the 12th time this year, that opponents have scored 51 points or less against OSU and the Beavers are undefeated in those games.
There were four ties and four lead changes in the first quarter but Cal never led again after a 3-pointer by Hanson sent the Beavers ahead 13-12 with 4:45 left. Freshman guard Katie McWilliams, who had a game-high seven assists, added a trifecta on OSU's next possession for a 16-12 advantage and the Bears never got closer than three points thereafter.
OSU led 35-26 at halftime and put the game on ice with a 19-4 run over the first nine minutes of the third quarter. It led 54-35 after three quarters and eventually enjoyed a 27-point cushion (70-43) at its zenith.
Hamblin's 15 points gave her 1,055 for her career, just six short of passing Sonjhia Fleming for 17th place on OSU's all-time list. Fleming scored 1,060 from 1990-93. She also became just the third Beaver ever with 800 rebounds; she now has 806.
Senior forward Deven Hunter had nine points, five rebounds and three steals. She needs just 23 rebounds to join Hamblin, Carol Menken-Schaudt (901) and Tanja Kostic (1,001) in the 800-plus rebounding club.
The Beavers resume Pac-12 action at 6 p.m. Sunday against Stanford at Gill Coliseum. It will be televised by Pac-12 Network.
Tickets for home games are available at BeaverTickets.com or by calling 800-GOBEAVS.
