Oregon State Women's Basketball: Washington State Picks Up Season Sweep with 65-57 Win
Oregon State's late season slide continued Monday night, as the Beavers fell to Washington State 65-57, the Beavers fourth loss in a row. The loss drops the Beavers to 9-13 overall, and 5-6 in conference play.
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After a close first quarter the Cougars held a 15-12 lead, the game was essentially decided in the second. Washington State demolished the Beavers on both ends of the court, outscoring Oregon State 27-9 in the period, putting the Beavers in a 21 point deficit with the game half over.
Three point shooting was the big deciding factor in the second quarter. It's been an Achilles' heel for the Beavers all season, but never has it been so pronounced. Washington State was 7 for 9 from beyond the arc in the second quarter. Tara Wallack did the most damage, going 3 for 3, with Astera Tuhina adding two and Jenna Villa and Charlotte Abraham adding one each.
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Meanwhile, the Beavers went 1 for 8 on three pointers in the second, with Ally Schimel making the lone basket. That would be bad enough, but Oregon State also struggled to score in the interior, with Kelsey Rees and Sela Heide going scoreless in the quarter.
The rest of the game wasn't as lopsided, Oregon State narrowly outscored WSU 13-12 in the third quarter, and Washington State playing to drain the clock in the fourth Oregon State actually managed to get the deficit back into the single digits. But it was too little too late,
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Catarina Ferreira was the highlight for the Beavers in a disappointing game. She put up 13 point, 7 rebounds and 2 assists. Despite their early struggles, Tiara Bolden and Sela Heide both had solid games, each finishing with 9 points.
For their last few games the Beavers have consistently been playing the top teams in the conference. They'll finally get a break from that Thursday, with the 7-11 (2-7 in WCC) Pepperdine Waves coming to Corvallis. After that, it's right back to the top of the standings, with a visit from Saint Mary's (11-8 overall, 7-3 WCC) 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.