In a tightly contested defensive struggle, the Oregon State University women’s basketball team took Gonzaga University down to the wire, beating them 63-61 in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament this Monday afternoon in Las Vegas.

“This story is an amazing one, getting better all the time,” OSU head coach Scott Rueck said. “Gonzaga is Gonzaga, we know we’re in their palace, basically… they’ve set the bar for a long time.”

The final scene was reminiscent of that from the quarterfinals: OSU is tied with their opponent, and pulls ahead by just enough in the last second. 

In the quarterfinals, it was Kelsey Rees with a buzzer-beater, but the semis saw Kennedie Shuler score the final points with just 0.8 seconds left in the game.

“I kept reminding my team we gotta put our heart on the line whatever that takes, so that means me, too,” Shuler said. “I knew I had to find a way. I’ve been in that position before, so I had to be confident and just go knock down a shot for the team.”

The Beavers started out strong, with a 12-2 run early on in the game. 

It wasn’t long before Gonzaga, the No. 1 ranked team in the WCC tournament, came back and cracked down offensively in the second quarter. The Bulldogs established a 17-3 run this period, entering halftime up 32 to 27.

After these two quarters with a long run for each team, the game became more tightly contested. Both teams were covering the ball. Gonzaga was creating less space for OSU, but the Beavers were blocking more shots than the Bulldogs.

The score had tied two separate times in the last 40 seconds until Shuler made the final layup through three different defenders. 

With less than a second left, Bulldog’s Yvonne Ejim caught the ball from a long lob and tried to make a layup to extend the game, but couldn’t find the basket.

Gonzaga’s defense, especially in the first half, largely kept the Beavers out of the paint by crowding out the inside. This led to OSU attempting more three-pointers instead of driving – where they made 11 and shot at 42.3% from deep. Beavers Tiara Bolden and Catarina Ferriera both made three triples apiece.

“They definitely are very good at crowding the paint,” guard AJ Marotte said. “Obviously, that’s where we like to go to in most of our offense, so kudos to them for making it difficult on us, but obviously we were knocking down good shots so it was working and I think we figured it out in the second half, getting better looks inside the paint.”

The Beavs were able to find openings, make nearly all of their free throws, and withstand the pressure. 

Ferriera, in a repeat of her prior night, led the team with 19 points. Marotte and Rees were both effective on the court, scoring 15 and 11 points respectively. Going into the match, OSU wanted to beat Gonzaga on the boards and mark more defensive rebounds, which they were barely able to do, making two more than their opponent. 

Gonzaga’s play revolved around their two offensive leaders: Ejim, the two-time WCC player of the year and current defensive player of the year, and Allie Turner, the standout WCC freshman of the year. 

Ejim’s versatility led to her controlling the rim, making mid-range shots, and picking up 14 rebounds- her 37th career double-double. Turner, one of the best three-point shooters in the NCAA, made four of her seven attempts from downtown this matchup. 

Both Ejim and Turner scored 18 points on the night. Forward Maud Huijbens was also able to pressure and stretch the Beavs with her 11 points. In the second quarter, Ejim became Gonzaga’s all-time scoring leader with over 2300 career points.

The last two meetups between these teams this season were extremely similar to each other, just with swapped results. Both teams won in their opponents’ territory, both teams won by four points in their respective games, and both games went to overtime. Both teams averaged 66.5 points over the two regular-season meets.

“When we went up and beat Gonzaga at their place and found a way in that game, that’s kinda when I knew there’s something here,” Rueck said. “We’ve seen these flashes, now it’s just consistency, and they understand what it takes to be a great team and they’re willing to give it.”

Gonzaga is set to join the reconstructed Pac-12 in 2026, joining OSU. 

“Every game that we’ve played against them (Oregon State) has gone back and forth,” Lisa Fortier, the head coach of Gonzaga said. “I know that Washington State, Oregon State, and us – the ones that are playing right now- are certainly game to do that, and really good women’s basketball programs so it should be fun.”

OSU will go on to the WCC championship this Tuesday, March 11, where they’ll face off against the University of Portland, the No. 2 seed. The two teams are split against each other with one win each. Portland is on a 13-game winning streak, and OSU is one of the two teams this season to hand them a loss.