Oregon State Women's Basketball: Beavers Beat San Francisco 61-59, Advance to WCC Semifinals
In their first game of the West Coast Conference Tournament, the Oregon State Women's Basketball team built an early first half lead, only to see it evaporate over the second half as the San Francisco Dons appeared to take control of the game. After struggling all day, a late shot from Kelsey Rees gave the Beavers a 61-59 win and sent them to the WCC Semifinals to face Gonzaga.
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After a close first quarter ended with the Beavers up 2, Oregon State took control in the second. A 12 quarter from Catarina Ferreira helped the Beavers build a big lead, while Oregon State's defense continued to contain the Dons shooting. Ferreira finished the quarter with a driving layup that put the Beavers up 14, 33-19.
Things began to shift towards San Francisco in the third quarter. Freja Worth started to hit her shots, helping to spark a Dons turnaround, but the big story was San Francisco's ability to take Oregon State's stars out of the game. AJ Marotte and Kelsey Rees both struggled to score; Marotte hit a three in the first quarter and didn't score again until the fourth, and Rees was scoreless until late in the fourth quarter.
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By the fourth, San Francisco had cut Oregon State's lead in half, and it didn't take them long to erase the Beaver lead altogether. A Mia Vuksic three with 5:10 left in the game tied things for the Dons, before a pair of Freja Werth free throws gave them their first lead since early in the first quarter. The Beavers kept things close, and with less than a minute to go the game was tied 59-59.
San Francisco got the first chance at scoring, but an Angeliki Ziaka three missed the mark and the Beavers took possession. San Francisco defensive pressure made it nearly impossible for the Beavers to find a scoring lane, but as the seconds ticked away Kelsey Rees finally found the net, hitting her only field goal of the game with 1 second on the clock to give the Beavers a 61-59 win.
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With the Beaver stars struggling for most of the night, it was Catarina Ferreira who really came through for Oregon State against San Francisco. Ferreira finished with 19 points, 7 rebounds and 1 assist. No other Beavers broke double digits, but Sela Heide was the next most effective scorer, with 9 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks.
After an emotional win, the Beavers will have to get right back at it tomorrow, as they'll take on the top seed Gonzaga Bulldogs Monday at 12:00 PM.
Having grown up in Pocatello, home of the Idaho State Bengals, John Severs is a lifelong fan of small schools that don't always deliver a lot of wins. Prior to writing for On SI, John covered the Beavers for SB Nation's Oregon State blog Building the Dam, with a focus on baseball and women's basketball. When he's not watching college sports he spends most of his time reading, playing video games and annoying cats.