The passing of the Oregon State offense racked up 22 assists, propelling them to a 78-58 victory over Jackson State on Saturday night in Gill Coliseum.
Raegan Beers did her best Kevin Love impression at the beginning of the second half, as she made a beautiful full-court pass to AJ Marotte for the easy layup two minutes into the third quarter, forcing Jackson State to take a timeout as the Beavers jumped ahead 44-33.
Just three minutes later, Marotte was on the receiving end of another beautiful pass, as Talia von Oelhoffen hit her with a no-look pass from half-court for another wide-open layup.
“I would say assists and the way the ball moves is Beaver basketball, and that’s what every game is supposed to be like,” head coach Scott Rueck said. “We talk about the ball not stopping and we just get it moving and moving it faster than the defense can move, and I thought we were challenging that tonight. But still, I looked up, what did we have, 22 assists to 10 turnovers against a team that plays passing lanes and doesn’t let you pass a whole lot, that’s fantastic.”
Leading scorers von Oelhoffen and Timea Gardiner had 15 points, with Gardiner adding 15 rebounds to her 15 points for her second double-double of the season and a career-high in rebounds.
“Coming in we knew that we just had to get rebounds, and that was the biggest key, so I kinda had that mentality going into the game, and then it was just a good night where the ball just stuck to my hands,” Gardiner said.
Von Oelhoffen also led the team in assists, accumulating five in the game.
“It was just straight line drives from our guards, and getting to the rim, I thought we did a good job at that. Just adjusting throughout the game to the different defenses that were thrown at us,” von Oelhoffen said.
Jackson State, led by Ti’lan Boler, had 20 of their 58 points. Miya Crump added 14 points and seven rebounds for the team.
The Tigers were without their leading scorer Daphane White as she reportedly had the flu.
The Beavers secured the lead early and only trailed for 57 seconds throughout the game.
Both teams struggled in the first quarter, as the score was 14-8; in the second quarter, the teams scored at least 20 points.
The Beavers played lockdown perimeter defense throughout the game, as the Tigers did not make a three-pointer on eleven attempts in the first half and went 2-20 for the game.
Jackson State won the turnover battle, as they had six steals and forced 10 total Beaver turnovers despite the twenty-point loss.
Jackson State (5-3) will travel back to their home state and have only a two-hour commute for their next game, facing a Mississippi State Bulldogs team on Thursday, Dec. 14 at 6:30 p.m.
Oregon State continues strong play in its 12-game home stand to start the season, as they are 7-0 and will face Santa Clara on Dec. 15 at 6 p.m. in Gill Coliseum.
