Despite being just an hour down the road from OSU’s campus, only a few specks of orange were among the crowd that witnessed Wednesday’s Oregon State/Oregon rivalry game.
The Oregon State women’s basketball team fell in a battle to Oregon 96-73 in Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, extending their loss streak to three games.
Oregon State was outmatched from the beginning of the meet, unable to make much happen in the first half. The Beavs were down by 32 points just before halftime.
Katie Fiso, Oregon’s top scorer, was fifth in the nation in assists per game before the matchup with 7.2. This stat was only padded further with her 14 assists on the night. Fiso scored 23 points, only missing two shots. Forward Mia Jacobs scored 21, her second highest of the season, and only missed three of her shots.
Oregon’s shooting overall was seemingly unstoppable. In the first half, the Ducks shot 74.2% from the field. The Ducks had several runs where they racked up points during Beaver scoring droughts. This average dropped, but not by much. UO ended the night with a 67.9% rate from the floor and an 80% rate on threes.
“How do you shoot like that? I mean, seriously. It would be hard to shoot by yourself at that clip, let alone in a game,” OSU head coach Scott Rueck said. “So I give them a ton of credit. I thought they played outstanding on both ends of the floor, so disruptive defensively and then made offense just look easy.”
In the third quarter, the momentum started to shift. OSU played more aggressively on defense, which led to them drawing far more fouls than in the first half. The Beavers were able to quickly get into the bonus and made their first free throw attempts four minutes into the quarter.
One of the sequences that exemplified the Beavers’ best efforts in the third began when forward Lizzy Williamson stepped up to the stripe. After sinking her first attempt, she missed the second, where the rebound was immediately caught by guard Jenna Villa. Villa herself was then fouled, sending her to the line.
In a moment of déjà vu, Villa made her first shot and missed her second. This time, it was Tiara Bolden who caught the o-board. The ball got back in Villa’s hands and she made a layup. The next points in the game came 16 seconds later when Villa made two more free throws.
This dropped Oregon’s lead to 17, the closest that the score got for the rest of the game.
“I loved the second half,” Rueck said. “I just thought we really competed well, and showed the character of the team, showed what we were capable of.”
Villa saw her career-high in points, leading the team with 27. She played for the entire 40 minutes, never subbing out.
In fact, four of OSU’s starters played for over 30 minutes. Three of Oregon’s starters did the same. This meant that the majority of the game was played with the same players on the court.
“I think it’s good to get a feel for your defender, but also, they’re learning us, too,” Villa said. “Just trying to take advantage in any way that we can on different defenders.”
Bolden and Kennedie Shuler, who both played for nearly the full 40 minutes, scored 16 and 14 points for the Beavs, respectively. Shuler, who was top-20 in assists per game in the nation before the contest, got many touches on the ball with seven rebounds and five assists.
Williamson, who played the five position for much of the game, was effective in the paint on both sides of the floor. She was fed the ball several times on offense, able to lay up above her defenders, and could use her size advantage on defense to clear space in front of the hoop.
The Beavers return to Gill to face the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, a Division II school, on Sunday in the pair’s first meeting in decades.
