The Oregon State Beavers defeated the Cal Golden Bears 71-63 on Wednesday, a team that has shown improvement in recent weeks, despite their 1-15 record.  The Beavers earned the win in what was a hard-fought game in the first round of the PAC-12 tournament.  

Despite trailing by double-digits at halftime, the Golden Bears never went away.  But after cutting the Oregon State lead to just four points with 5:01 remaining in the final quarter, the Beavers put their foot down and extended the lead to nine with 1:59 left to play, keeping the Golden Bears at arms length for the remainder of the game.

Freshman guard Talia Van Oelhoffen had a monster game off the bench for the Beavers, scoring 20 points and shooting 3-5 from beyond the arc.  Freshman forward Taylor Jones also had a big game, scoring 17 points and collecting 13 rebounds.  Senior guard Aleah Goodman and freshman guard Sasha Goforth rounded out the Beavers double-digit scorers, adding 12 and 11 points each.

What It Means

With the win, the Beavers advance to play the fourth-seeded Oregon Ducks tomorrow at 11AM in the second round of the PAC-12 tournament.  This could be a game with huge implications for the Beavers tournament chances, as the single-digit win over a one-win Cal team might not have been enough to solidify their spot in the big dance.  The Oregon Ducks are ranked #19 in the country, and would be a resume-boosting win for Oregon State.  The Beavers defeated the Ducks 88-77 on Sunday.