Scott Rueck Praises Oregon State Shooters After WCC Semifinal Win

Ally Schimel and Jenna Villa combined for 43 points in Monday's upset of top-seeded LMU

Oregon State coach Scott Rueck calls to his team during the first half against Oregon at Matthew Knight Arena Dec. 3, 2025. | Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Oregon State women's basketball team earned an upset victory in Monday's semifinal game against Loyola Marymount in Las Vegas.

The 73-67 result yielded a career day from sophomore guard Ally Schimel, who scored 21 points with five makes from three-point range. Washington State transfer Jenna Villa led the Beavs in scoring with 22 points, going 5-for-9 from the floor and a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line.

Beavers head coach Scott Rueck, speaking to the ESPN+ broadcast crew following the win, expressed his excitement to beat an LMU team that won two games against OSU this season, including on the Beavers' Senior Day back on February 28.

"I mean it's not like the best thing ever to have an opponent of celebrating on Senior Day on your court, you now. But we didn't even talk about it. We didn't need to. They get your attention...We had to fight and this thing wasn't over until the final buzzer, and so a ton of respect for their program."

Rueck also praised his team's versatility in that conversation.

"We're still standing because we can do it in lots of ways. We have three players that scored 30 in a game...[LMU] chose to take the rim away, so they're sliding under us. I mean, [Kennedie Shuler's] third foul was was a charge and it might have been deep, but they were there, you know, and so they picked that poison, and fortunately we were able to capitalize by making those threes today, which we didn't do a great job of yesterday."

---

---

Schimel herself spoke to the ESPN crew following the win. When asked if there was a sense of revenge from beating this LMU team, Schimel responded "of course."

"We lost to them twice, and there's pretty great celebrations from them, both times actually. So we felt like we definitely needed to get this one back, and they're a great team, so you know it was a battle."

When asked about her own contibutions to the game on the offensive end, Schimel had this to say::

"Yeah, I mean, the last couple of games, you know, they overplay a ton, and so I knew I'd have some open threes. I knew I needed to knock them down for my team, so that was in the back of my head before the game even started. So, I'm glad I was able to do that."

The Beavers now await the winner of Monday's matchup between Gonzaga and Santa Clara. The WCC title game is scheduled for Tuesday, March 10 at 1 p.m. PT on ESPN2.