Oregon State Women's Basketball: Second Half Meltdown Dooms Beavers in 69-66 Loss to Saint Mary's
In one of the most frustrating games they've played this seaon, the Oregon State women built a 20 point lead in the first half, only to watch it disintegrate over the course of the third quarter, allowing the Saint Mary's Gaels to battle back and take a 69-66 win. The loss drops the Beavers to 15-15 overall, and 11-8 in conference play. It also means the Beavers could potentially fall out of the top 4 in the West Coast Conference standings, costing them a bye game.
RELATED:
Oregon State Women's Basketball: Beavers Demolish Saint Mary's 80-45
The Beavers got off to a hot start, with Catarina Ferreira hitting a three to open the game. Saint Mary's kept things close for a bit in the first, but towards the end of the quarter Kelsey Rees hit back to back threes to help the Beavers pull away. Tiara Bolden hit one more three as the first quarter end to put the Beavers up 16-8.
The second quarter went much the same, with Ferreira, Rees, Kennedie Shuler and Ally Schimel combining to grow the Beaver lead to as much as 20 towards the end of the first half. A pullup jumper and a free throw from Zeryhia Aokuso got the Saint Mary's deficit down to 17, 39-22, setting the stage for a very different second half.
RELATED:
Oregon State Women's Basketball: Beavers Fall to San Francisco 54-52
Oregon State's defense seemed to evaporate in the third quarter. Maia Jones alone put up 17 points for the Gaels as over the space of 10 minutes Saint Mary's managed to all but erase the Beaver lead. At the end of the quarter, the Beavers clung to a meager 5 point lead.
They wouldn't hold it for long, as Saint Mary's managed to maintain control of both ends of the court. With 6:29 left in the game Maia Jones put the Gaels in front for the first time since the first quarter, and the Beaver would never lead again. Oregon State only managed to score 11 points in the final quarter, and much of that came from a flurry in the closing minutes as the Beavers tried desperately to close the gap. They fell just short, falling 69-66.
Kelsey Rees led the Beavers in scoring, with 18 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists. Kennedie Shuler and AJ Marotte each added 12 points, with Shuler also putting up 10 assists for a double double. Catarina Ferreira also managed to hit double digits in scoring, with 10 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists.
RELATED:
Oregon State Women's Basketball: Beavers Take Down Toreros 58-50
The Beavers did get a bit of good news tonight, as the Portland Pilots managed to come back and beat the San Francisco Dons. That helps the Beavers in their tiebreaker against San Francisco, but now the door is open for Saint Mary's to potentially tie the Beavers at the end of the season, which means the Beavers could still potentially drop out of the top 4. All Oregon State can do now is beat Pepperdine on Saturday.
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.