Beavers Cage Wildcats
January 30, 2016 | Women's Basketball
CORVALLIS – A dominant first half performance lifted the No. 8/9 Oregon State women's basketball team to a 71-43 win over Arizona Friday afternoon at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Ore.
"This was a good team win tonight," said Oregon State head coach Scott Rueck. "I thought we did a good job defensively of keeping Arizona in front of us and making them take tough shots. Our defense really set the tone, and everybody rose to the occassion. We had great balance and this game had a fun feeling to it. We were firing on all cylinders for stretches and that was really fun to watch."
The victory is the Beavers' (17-3, 8-1 Pac-12) seventh-straight win, as Oregon State shot 47 percent from the floor, compared to 30 percent for Arizona. The Beavers also held a 44-32 advantage in rebounds.
Junior Sydney Wiese filled the stat sheet, finishing with 15 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. She shot 5-for-12 from the floor and 3-for-6 from 3-point range on her way to her second career double-double.
Senior Deven Hunter scored 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting and hit both of her 3-point attempts. She added nine rebounds and five assists. Fellow senior Ruth Hamblin scored 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting.
Freshman Taylor Kalmer and junior Gabriella Hanson tallied eight points apiece on the evening. Fellow freshman Katie McWilliams made her 11th-straight start, scoring six points.
All 11 active Oregon State players scored in the game.
The teams battled back and forth early on, with the Beavers taking a five-point lead into the first media timeout. Arizona proceeded to cut the edge to one, but the Beavers would hold the Wildcats scoreless for the final 3:57 of the first quarter to take a 23-12 lead into the second period. The run was propelled by a 3-pointer from Hunter and capped off by a longball from Wiese, who took the floor at Gill Coliseum for the first time since Dec. 19.
Oregon State would continue to build on the lead in the second half, as Hanson got hot offensively to help the Beavers extend the edge to 15 with five minutes to go in the half. Oregon State would explode from 3-point range from there, ending the half on a 22-3 run to take a 47-19 advantage into the break. The Beavers shot 58 percent from the floor and a matching 58 percent from long range in the opening 20 minutes.
Oregon State would hold on to the big lead in the third-quarter, heading into the fourth ahead by a score of 56-30. It was all Beavers from there as they took the victory by 28 points.
The Beavers played the contest without the services of senior guard Jamie Weisner, who missed the game due to injury, but is expected to return to the lineup soon.
Oregon State will be back in action Monday when it plays host to conference leader Arizona State. The game will air on ESPN2 as part of the network's Big Monday coverage, and will be one of just 15 women's basketball games on Big Monday this season.
Tickets for all Oregon State women's basketball games this season can be found on BeaverTickets.com or by calling 800-GoBeavs.
