Beavers Top Cal, Claim Pac-12 Title Outright
CORVALLIS - The No. 7/7 Oregon State women’s basketball team locked down the Pac-12 title outright Saturday afternoon, as the Beavers defeated No. 24 California 73-55 in front of 6,238 at Gill Coliseum. The championship is the Beavers’ first Pac-12 title and second overall conference title, joining the 1982-83 NorPac Championship squad.
"It's hard to put something like this into words when you have been where we were,” said Oregon State head coach Scott Rueck. “It is an emotional day. It has been, to say the least, a grind to get to this point. This team is not only capable at winning at this level, but deserves it and that is the thing I am so happy for. You don't always get what you deserve, but when you do you have to be so grateful. Grateful to be part of this, grateful to be the coach of such an incredible group - great people from great families. It was a movie scene out there tonight. If you know the whole story, that was a movie.”
The win, which improved the Beavers to 26-3 on the season, came on Senior Day, as Oregon State honored the career of Ali Gibson, who has made her 128th consecutive start and is among OSU’s all-time leaders in points and 3-pointers. The Beavers will now look forward to the Pac-12 Tournament, which they will enter as the No. 1 seed.
As a team, Oregon State launched a 3-point barrage, matching a season-high with 15 longballs, and setting a new season-best by shooting 57.7 percent from beyond the arc. Sophomore Sydney Wiese led the way a career-high tying seven 3-pointers, going 7-for-9 from beyond the arc to finish the game with 23 points.
Fellow sophomore Gabriella Hanson tallied 14 points and four assists to spark the Beavers off the bench, and junior Jamie Weisner recorded 11 points. Junior Ruth Hamblin filled the stat sheet yet again, finishing the game with nine points, 10 rebounds and eight blocks.
Gibson ended Senior Day with nine points on three 3-pointers.
“Everything Ali has meant to us and to celebrate her was special,” Rueck said. “A year ago it was Alyssa [Martin]’s time and we got to celebrate her time with over five-thousand people with a huge win against Arizona State. It meant a lot and it was the next step in our progression. Tonight was another step and we got to celebrate Ali Gibson and her incredible career.”
Cal scored the first eight points of the game, jumping out to an early lead. The Beavers responded with back-to-back 3-pointers from Weisner and Hanson, to cut the edge to two. The Bears would hold onto the lead until the 6:40 mark in the half, when Hanson converted a 3-point play to give the Beavers a 21-20 lead. The Oregon State offense would continue to roll, as OSU used a 12-0 run to jump out to a 14-point lead in the closing minutes of the half. The Beavers would enter the break with a 40-26.
Hanson finished the first half with 12 points, while Wiese scored 11 in the opening frame on 4-for-4 shooting. Hamblin ended the first stanza with six points, six rebounds and five blocks.
The defenses dominated the early portion of the second half, as the teams combined for just one point in the first four minutes of the closing frame. Cal would cut the lead to six early in the half, but the Beavers responded with a 3-pointer from Weisner to keep the Bears at bay. Wiese would catch fire from there, helping the Beavers take an 18-point lead with six minutes to play. Oregon State would hang on from there to take the win by 18 points.
The victory was Oregon State’s first over Cal since 2005.
The Beavers will play their first game of the Pac-12 Tournament on Friday.
