Oregon State
NCAA Tournament First Round: Oregon State vs. Troy
Beavers fly by Troy
March 18, 2016 | Women's Basketball
Corvallis, Ore. – The Oregon State women's basketball team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row on Saturday with a 73-31 victory over Troy at Gill Coliseum.
The Beavers (29-4) got 18 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks from senior center Ruth Hamblin, who posted her 10th career double-double of the season and the 27th of her career.
Sophomore forward Marie Gulich added 12 points, junior guard Sydney Wiese added 10 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists and junior guard Gabriella Hanson had nine points, four assists and four steals.
Eleven different players scored and the Beavers posted their largest margin of victory in an NCAA game in school history. The old record was 19 points, in a win over Middle Tennessee State at Seattle in 2014.
OSU ran off 11 unanswered points to take an 11-2 lead and never looked back in eliminating the Trojans (20-13), the Sun Belt Conference tournament champions. OSU led 23-4 after the first quarter and by as many as 45 points in a thorough, convincing victory.
The Beavers now face St. Bonaventure of the Atlantic-10 Conference on Sunday at 6 p.m. in the second round. The Bonnies eliminated Oklahoma State 65-54 in the other game.
Sunday's winner advances to the Sweet 16 in the Dallas Regional next weekend to face the champion of the ongoing Louisville Regional. The Beavers have not made the Sweet 16 since 1983, when the tournament was a 32-team affair.
OSU outscored Troy 44-8 in the paint, 15-3 in second-chance points, 12-4 in fast-break points and 32-9 off the bench. It outrebounded the Trojans 65-42, had 24 assists on 29 baskets and held Troy to just 16 percent shooting (12-74) overall and 14 percent (3-22) from deep.
The Beavers have now won 19 of their last 20 games. They held their opponent to 55 or fewer points for the 28th time this season, and for the 19th time in their last 20 starts.
Hamblin moved past Ali Gibson into ninth place on OSU's career scoring list. She has 1,265 points; Gibson had 1,262 from 2012-15. She also drew closer to all-time rebounder Tanja Kostic, who had 1.001 from 1993-96; Hamblin has 879 in her career.
Wiese's seven assists upped her career total to 444, sixth-most in school history. She passed Margo Evashevki (1990-93) and Izzy Maryntschak (1988-91) on OSU's all-time list on Friday.
Wiese also broke a tie with Talisa Rhea (2008-10) for 11th place on OSU's all-time scoring list. She now has 1,224 points.
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