Beavers Women's Basketball Ends Four-Game Skid with Win Over Pepperdine
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If you were told the Beavs would shoot just 28% from beyond the arc before the game Thursday night at Gill Coliseum, you might have thought they were headed for their fifth-straight WCC loss. 22 points in the first quarter for Oregon State proved otherwise as the Beavs were able to get back to winning ways with a 63-54 win over Pepperdine. With the win, Oregon State improved to 6-6 in WCC play and 10-13 overall, as the Waves dropped to 3-8 in conference play and 8-12 overall.
The Beavers had only seven players see the floor Thursday night in Corvallis as Catarina Ferreira made her mark on a huge victory with her second double-double of the season for Oregon State. The senior notched 13 points to go along with a career-high 14 rebounds. Kelsey Rees was able to play the floor general role and finished with nine points, seven rebounds, and four assists. Tiara Bolden and Kennedie Shuler each had 11 points with AJ Marotte finding double figures with 10 points. It was the third game in the 24-25 season that saw four beavers in double digits.
Pepperdine kept this one too close for comfort throughout most of the night, they trailed by just four heading into the half and eventually exploded in the third quarter going 4-5 from deep thanks, in part, to Malia Mastora who finished the game 3/3 from beyond the arc and 12 points total. Pepperdine came within a point at one point in the third and made it a one possesion game going into the final quarter before the Beavs defense clamped down and allowed just 6 points in the final 10 minutes of regulation. The Beavs out-rebounded the Waves by an astounding 44-28 on the night, as a unit
It was an unhappy homecoming of sorts for Pepperdine head coach Katie Faulkner, who served as an assistant for the Beavs for five seasons. Coach Rueck in his postgame presser talked about Faulkner saying he was "happy she has this opportunity" but that once the game started "it was just another team". Rueck and Faulkner will meet again on March 1 in what will be the final regular season game for Oregon State.
The Beavs will be home again at Gill on Saturday where they are 5-3 this season. They welcome St. Marys (7-4 WCC) (11-9 overall) to Corvallis as Oregon State will try to keep this momentum up to balance out the recent four-game losing streak.
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Kyle is a 2019 graduate of Southern Oregon University and currently does play-by-play for SOU football and men’s and women’s soccer. He hosts a daily sports show in southern Oregon on The Ace Sports Radio, 107.9 FM and 1300 AM. Kyle also does play-by-play for the Rogue Valley Royals hockey team and the North Medford High School Black Tornado for TableRockSports.net. Kyle lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife and a Dalmatian named Penny.