Beavers reach triple digits in blow out against Explorers

Sophomore guard Aleah Goodman, who graduated from La Salle High School in 2017, dribbles the ball up court looking for an open lane. 

The No. 9 Oregon State Women’s Basketball team added another win to their season today in Gill Coliseum, defeating the La Salle Explorers, 100-46.

From the first whistle, the Beavers (6-1) dominated offensively, seeing a 54.4 percent field goal shooting average compared to the Explorers’ (0-7) 22.4 percent average. The Beavers kept the lead in both halves, ahead by as much as 55 points in the second half.

Beavers Head Coach Scott Rueck credits the team’s stability to their successful return to Gill Coliseum after losing to Notre Dame last week on the road.

“Overall, I thought we were addressing weaknesses and overall execution. What we get from today is overall confidence and execution,” Rueck said. “We got so many reps today and running circuit sets and executing our motion against a different opponent that’s giving us different looks. I think that’s very helpful.”

The Beavers claimed the lead the entire game, ending the first half 45-16. Junior guard Kat Tudor led the team at the half with 11 total points, followed closely by sophomore forward Taya Corosdale’s nine points.

By the final buzzer, Tudor earned her season-high of 24 points and nine rebounds. She gave the credit to her success to her teammates.

“It’s easy when you have great people around you–great teammates that make you feel comfortable,” Tudor said. “It’s such a team game and it makes everyone feel like they belong.”

Corosdale narrowly missed a triple-double, scoring 11 total points and claiming 10 rebounds and seven assists.

“She (Corosdale) was just a steady force for us today,” Rueck said. “Her game intensity is quiet so you don’t think, ‘Man, Taya almost got a triple double’ until you look at the stats. She has a phenomenal game and is such a key to everything we do.”

The Beavers dominated the glass the entire game, out-rebounding the Explorers 68 to 22. Junior guard Mikayla Pivec and junior forward Maddie Washington also both claimed nine rebounds.

According to Rueck, he had the team focus on rebounding going into the game, attributing last week’s practice to today’s success off the glass.

“This week, we went through the fundamentals and broke it down and slowed it down and let them feel, from a slow motion standpoint, what it feels like and what it’s supposed to be like,” Rueck said. I thought those reps probably helped us.”

The game was able to see minutes from several different Beaver players, including freshman guard Jasmine Simmons, who played 17 minutes today after sitting the bench last week against Notre Dame.

Simmons added 11 points to the scoreboard and dished out two assists. Her success today was noticed by Pivec, who thinks she will be a strong addition to the team moving further into the season.

“Jas (Simmons) did a really good job of being aggressive and I was happy for how confident he way playing out there, not afraid to make mistakes and just going for it,” Pivec said. “Just having her be more confident each game will be big for us going forward.”

The Beavers will stay home next week as they take on Santa Clara, who is ranked No. 1 in the West Coast Conference, Dec. 9 at 2 p.m. in Gill Coliseum.

Correction: The person in the photograph of this story was misidentified as Taya Corosdale, when it is in fact Aleah Goodman.

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