Rueck, Gibson Set to Face Off in USA vs PR
TORONTO, Ontario – Oregon State head coach Scott Rueck and former Beaver Ali Gibson (2011-15) combined to lead Oregon State to 81 wins over the last four seasons, but Saturday evening they will find themselves on opposite benches when Rueck’s Team USA squad and Gibson’s Puerto Rico go head-to-head at the Pan-American Games. The game will be played in Toronto at 6 p.m. PT and will be carried live online on ESPN3.com.
Rueck’s Team USA squad has opened the Pan-American Games with a 2-0 record, and currently sits atop Group A, which also includes Puerto Rico, Brazil and the Dominican Republic. The Stars and Stripes opened the Pan-Am games with a 75-69 win over Brazil on Thursday, before topping the Dominican Republic 94-55 last night.
Gibson and Puerto Rico have split their opening two matchups to begin group play at 1-1. The OSU graduate put up five points and one steal in the Ticos opening win over the Dominican Republic, before going for eight points, four rebounds and two steals against Brazil Friday afternoon.
Saturday’s matchup will mark the end of group play, which will be followed by semi-final action on Sunday and the medal games on Monday.
Rueck was named to the USA coaching staff in April after leading the Beavers to their best season in school history in 2014-15, as Oregon State set a school record with 27 wins en route to the program’s first ever Pac-12 title. Along the way Oregon State proved it could beat the nation’s best teams and under Rueck took down North Carolina on the road, swept Arizona State and defeated California. The Beavers were in the national rankings throughout the season, moving as high as No. 7 before ending the regular season ranked 10th. Oregon State ranked in the top 25 in the country in eleven different statistical categories, including fifth in assists per game (18.6), ninth in field goal percentage (45.4) and 13th in field goal percentage defense (35.2). The historic season led to an increase in attendance, as the Beavers averaged a Pac-12 leading 4,167 fans per game, and welcomed 7,652 fans to Gill Coliseum for the Civil War on Jan. 9, the third-largest crowd in school history.
Rueck, who was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year by both the coaches and the media and has earned back-to-back WBCA Region 8 Coach of the year honors, has helped engineer an incredible turnaround in the program, since taking over in 2010. The Beavers earned their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1996 last season, and made it to the second round of the tourney for the second season in a row this year. Under his guidance, the Beavers led the Pac-12 with three All-Conference honorees this season (Ruth Hamblin, Jamie Weisner and Sydney Wiese), and led the conference with four Players of the Week.
After graduating as one of the best players in OSU history, Gibson was selected by Las Pollitas de Isabela with the first overall pick in the 2015 BNSF Draft last week. The BNSF is the highest league for women’s basketball in Puerto Rico.
She helped the Puerto Rican National Team to a silver medal at the FIBA Americas Centrobasket Femenino in Monterrey, Mexico in 2014. In five games with the national team last summer, Gibson was Puerto Rico’s third-leading scorer, averaging 8.4 points while also contributing 2.8 rebounds and 2.0 steals.
One of just 18 players in Oregon State history to reach the 1,000-point mark, Rueck often refers to Gibson as “the perfect person at the perfect time.” The Woodbridge, Calif., native helped engineer a renaissance in the Oregon State women’s basketball program, culminating in a Pac-12 title her senior season. She started all 131 games the Beavers played in her four seasons with the team, amassing 1,262 points, good for eighth in school history. She also knocked down 178 3-pointers, tied for second most in the OSU record book.
A Pac-12 All-Freshman honoree in 2012, Gibson recorded five 20+ point games in her career, and scored in double-figures 62 times. As the Beavers lone senior in the 2014-15 season, she served as a leader both on the floor and in the locker room, and ender the year averaging 8.7 points and 2.9 rebounds per game.
