Oregon State Women's Basketball: Beavers Take Down Santa Clara 68-51
After last week's loss to Gonzaga the Beavers slipped to fifth in the West Coast Conference standings, setting up an important rematch against the Santa Clara Broncos last night. In their first meeting this season, Oregon State barely scraped out a win against Santa Clara, beating the Broncos 74-72 in overtime. Thursday night went much smoother, with the Beavers taking down Santa Clara 68-51 to improve to 14-14 overall, and 10-7 in the West Coast Conference.
RELATED:
Oregon State Women's Basketball: What to Expect from the Santa Clara Broncos
The Beavers have often struggled to build an early lead this season, but that wasn't the case Thursday night. Oregon State took a 20-6 lead in the first quarter, behind good shoooting from AJ Marotte and Kennedie Shuler and strong defensive play from Catarina Ferreira and Sela Heide.
After a fairly even second quarter gave the Beavers a 31-16 halftime lead, Santa Clara bounced back in the third quarter. An 11 point quarter from Olivia Pollerd got the Broncos within 7. Some quality play from Catarina Ferreira and Kelsey Rees kept the Beavers in front, but headed into the fourth Santa Clara was within striking distance.
RELATED:
Oregon State Women's Basketball: Upset Bid Falls Short as Gonzaga Beats Beavers 66-62
That feeling didn't last long. A Sela Heide layup and back to back jumpers from AJ Marotte got the Beavers lead back up to 13, and Santa Clara wouldn't get within double digits of Oregon State for the rest of the game. 10 points from AJ Marotte were the highlight of the quarter, with a layup from Kelsey Rees in the last minute capping off the 17 point win.
Marotte led the Beavers in scoring with 18 points, including 4 three pointers, 5 assists and a rebound. Kennedie Shuler and Kelsey Rees each finished with 13 points, with Shuler adding 7 rebounds and 7 assists and Rees contributing 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Sela Heide also put in a big game with 12 point and 9 rebounds.
RELATED:
Oregon State Women's Basketball: Beavers Take Down Toreros 58-50
On Saturday the Beavers will be back in Gill Coliseum to take on the San Diego. In their first meeting this season the Beavers took down the Toreros 58-50. San Diego has been near the bottom of the WCC standings this season, but as tight as the conference standings are the Beavers can't afford to look past this game.
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.