Women’s basketball avoids being first team to lose to a 15-seed in NCAA Tournament

The Beavers saw their season flash before their eyes Friday afternoon.

With 21.4 seconds left in their season, Long Beach State held possession and held Oregon State by the throat when the Beavers led by one.

Senior guard Sydney Wiese struggled to score Sunday but is taking the close win as a good reminder that nothing is guaranteed in the postseason.

“It really puts things into perspective that you don’t want to be in that position,” Wiese said.

You feel so stressed and it’s not healthy, bottom line. Long Beach State put themselves in a position to win. You’re watching that shot and you’re seeing your life flash before your eyes and you’re hoping it doesn’t fall so you can continue to play some basketball in the postseason. I think it’s a good reminder for us that with each game that comes nothing’s guaranteed. We have to take that mindset into preparation and back into Sunday for one last time at Gill.”

Freshman Mikayla Pivec had ten points for the Beavers Friday afternoon. In her first NCAA Tournament appearance, the guard talked about the nerve-wracking ending.

“Last possession, we needed a stop,” Pivec said. “One stop to help us move on. It was nerve-wracking but you play as hard as you can and hope for the best result.”

Redshirt junior Breanna Brown made an impact offensively and defensively when she scored twelve points for the Beavers. Brown gave all the credit to her teammates.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say I put the team on my back,” Brown said. “I think Syd definitely got the ball to me and opened it up. It was definitely from her being such a threat and doing that for us. It’s always coming from somewhere on this team.”

Brown hopes the Beavers will come out strong Sunday in round two.

“I think we definitely started out a little bit off of our game but eventually we pulled it together,” Brown said. “We definitely need to work on consistency and take that awareness into our next game just being more focused and coming out strong.”

The Beavers will now move onto round two vs Creighton on Sunday in Gill Coliseum.