Oregon State Women’s Basketball reunited with star sophomore Raegan Beers in Gill Coliseum, Saturday, after her injury against University of California Los Angeles.
The Beavers ended the matchup against the California Golden Bears with a dominant score of 79-58 to close out their regular season.
“A great finish to the regular season. Obviously great to have Rae [Beers] back and give her a ton of credit for doing what it took to get her back, our medical staff doing a great job as well in getting her ready,” Head Coach Scott Rueck said.
The first quarter was the only part of the game where Cal showed a chance of taking down the Beavers, ending with a lead of 14-12. This would be the only quarter the Beavers allowed that to happen, securing a one point lead at halftime.
“Today was kind of a re-entry for the group with [Beers], it felt like there was some feeling out,” Rueck said.
This change of pace would only intensify in the next half. The Beavers extended their lead by outscoring Cal 51-31 in the second half.
An outlier for this game was Oregon State junior Talia von Oelhoffen. Despite being a usual top scorer for the team, it was not necessary for her to attempt a shot in this game. However, she still more than contributed with four assists and four rebounds.
The biggest show for the Beavers’ victory was the field goal percentage. Both teams in the first quarter shot 35.7% on the floor, unfortunately for Cal their percentage would never go up from there. This was the exact opposite from Oregon State, whose field goal percentage never dropped below 50% the rest of the game, even reaching 66.7% in the third quarter.
Other impressive performances came from Beaver sophomore Timea Gardiner, who scored 16 points in the second half, ending with 19 total. Additionally, freshman Donovyn Hunter joined her teammate in the game leaders, dishing out nine assists to lead both teams.
“I’m in awe of what [Hunter] does, understanding how difficult it is, it’s a lot to carry. She’s a natural leader, she’s a natural basketball player and she’s natural in transition. That’s just who she is,” Rueck said.
The assist numbers were also quite evident in how Oregon State turned the game on its head, gathering 22 total assists to Cal’s seven. They outperformed them in time keeping the lead 27 minutes to Cal’s 11, as well as points in the paint 36-20
Oregon State junior, AJ Marotte, also passed a season milestone in this game. She only needed one point to reach 500 career points, which she passed easily by scoring 12.
“Feels pretty good. Nice to know the hard work is paying off,” Marotte said.
The fully healthy Beavers now look to the postseason with their next matchup being the first round of the Pac-12 tournament. It will be held on March 6, but their opponent has not been determined as of yet.
