The Oregon State women’s basketball team easily handled the UC Davis Aggies at Gill Coliseum on Friday night, 86-48, moving their record to 3-0 to start the season.
The Oregon State Beavers brought the heat to start the game. AJ Marotte led the way with 10 points in eight minutes. Marotte did not miss a shot, as six of her points were contested at the three-point line.
This gave the Beavers a 12-0 scoring run in the later half of the first quarter.
“The effort tonight was outstanding from the jump. Our defense set the tone,” said head coach Scott Rueck.
Sophomore Raegan Beers, junior Kelsey Rees, and junior Talia von Oelhoffen combined for four blocks and two steals in the opening quarter.
Beers captured a career milestone in the contest by earning her 17th career double-double (16 pts, 11 reb), as well as passing the 300 rebound mark.
The defense of the Beavers continued to hold strong, keeping the Aggies to 18 total points to the Beavers’ 46.
UC Davis senior Evanne Turner and senior Tova Sabel combined for 41.9 percent of the scoring output last season, however, that momentum came to a screeching halt with Sabel shooting 0-10, and Turner 3-8 in the first half.
The duo combined for 18 of the team’s 48 total points while shooting 22.5 percent from the field on the night.
“Two very good scorers, we saw a great scorer last week (Lucy Olsen, Villanova) and that’s kind of what we alluded to, when you face a player like that,” said Rueck.
Turner gave full effort to keep the Aggies in it, playing the most minutes of any player on both teams with 35 minutes total but the drive was not enough to take home the victory.
Beaver Nation was treated to a great performance off the bench from sophomore Timea Gardiner scoring 16 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.
Freshman Kennedie Shuler dropped 11 points showing dominance in the paint, and a crowd raising three from behind the backboard in the third by sophomore Lily Hansford.
“Our flow was great, we moved the ball, motion worked well for us. Just stick with what defenses give me, they’re up on me pretty tight, I knew I had a quick first step so just get to the rim and do me,” said Shuler.
“We kind of have a saying in our program of ‘Be a killer’ which is whenever you have the ball be aggressive and shoot. And so I have that mindset, just take what defense gives me and be confident in the shots I put up,” Gardiner said.
The 38-point victory for Oregon State sends UC Davis to a 1-3 starting record to start their season.
The Beavers stay at Gill Coliseum as they take on the visiting UMBC Retrievers at 6 p.m. on Nov 22.
