Oregon State
USC
Beavers Open Pac-12 Play With Win Over USC
January 03, 2016 | Women's Basketball
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The No. 10 Oregon State women's basketball team handed USC its second loss of the season and its first at the Galen Center, as the Beavers opened their Pac-12 season with a 57-49 victory Saturday evening in Los Angeles.
Senior Ruth Hamblin finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds, and etched her name in the Oregon State record book by becoming the 20th player in school history to reach the 1,000-career point mark. Hamblin joins teammates Sydney Wiese and Jamie Weisner in the 1,000-point club.
“I loved our effort tonight defensively,” said Oregon State head coach Scott Rueck, who notched the 100th win of his Oregon State career with the victory. “We were laser focused and we knew we had to be. We did a nice job of staying in front of the ball and we won the battle of boards, which I thought was huge.”
Weisner hit five of her eight shot attempts and knocked down both of her free throws to finish with 14 points and five boards. Fellow senior Deven Hunter tallied nine points, while junior Gabriella Hanson recorded eight points.
Oregon State led by as many as 15 in the game, and used a 12-0 run late in the fourth quarter to put the game away. The Beavers only trailed once in the contest, falling behind by a single point in the first minute of the game.
Oregon State shot 47.2 percent from the floor and held USC to 29.3 percent shooting, a season-low for the Women of Troy. The Beavers also held a 41-30 edge in rebounding.
The Beavers played their third-straight game without the services of Naismith Trophy candidate Sydney Wiese, who missed the game due to injury.
Oregon State got off to a strong start, using an 8-0 run to jump out to an early 10-3 lead. The Women of Troy would battle back to cut the edge to two midway through the opening frame, but the Beavers extended the edge to 20-12 at the end of the first quarter.
OSU would not slow down in the second stanza, scoring the first seven points of the frame to bring the lead to 15 points. The Beavers would clamp down defensively from there to take a 29-19 advantage into the intermission.
Hamblin came out strong to start the second half, scoring the Beavers first six points of the third quarter including the layup that netted her 1,000th career point. The Women of Troy would fight back in penultimate period, however, cutting the edge to five heading into the closing frame.
The two sides traded baskets early in the fourth quarter. USC tied the game up at 43 with seven minutes to play. After the game was level at 45, Oregon State scored 12-straight points to retake control of the contest in the closing minutes, before USC closed the gap to single digits on late free throws.
The Beavers will head across town Monday for a matchup with No. 21 UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. and will be carried live on Pac-12 Network, Pac-12 Oregon and Pac-12 Los Angeles.
Tickets for all Beaver home games are available at BeaverTickets.com or by calling 800-GOBEAVS.
