Rueck, USA Head to Pan-American Semis
TORONTO, Ontario – Oregon State women’s basketball head coach Scott Rueck and Team USA punched their ticket to the Pan-American Games semifinal Saturday evening, earning a 93-77 win over Puerto Rico. With the victory, the Stars and Stripes moved to 3-0 in the tournament and won Group A with six points in the standings. Team USA will take on Cuba in the semifinals Sunday at 10:30 a.m. PT, in a game that will air live on ESPN3.
Former Beaver Ali Gibson (2012-15) continued to shine for Puerto Rico in the contest, scoring 13 points while making three 3-pointers. The Ticos had the score within three headed into the fourth quarter, before the USA pulled away late. Gibson also posted five points and a steal against the Dominican Republic on Thursday, and tallied eight points and four rebounds against Brazil on Friday.
Puerto Rico will return to action Sunday at 6 p.m., when it faces Argentina in the fifth-place game.
Team USA moves forward after sweeping the Dominican Republic, Brazil and Puerto Rico in the group phase.
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.
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.
