The Oregon St. women's basketball team's defense allowed Washington St. only 13 second half points last night in Pullman, and that allowed the Beavers to come from behind for a 51-39 win over the Cougars.

And while almost no one was looking (there were barely over 500 fans in Beasley Arena last night), coach Scott Rueck has his team in third place in the Pac-12 conference. Technically, the Beavers (16-7, 7-5) are in 4th. place, despite being tied with UCLA (12-11, 7-5), due to the Bruins having the tie-breaker at the moment. But the Beavers have one of the desired top 4 positions, which earns a first round bye in the Pac-12 tournament.

Sage Indendi had all 10 of her points after the break, and 6'7" Thais Pinto came off the Beavers' bench for a game high 12 points to lead Oregon St. to their 5th. consecutive win.

With UCLA, who lost 67-58 at second place California last night, looking at a trip Sunday to fourth ranked and Pac-12 leading Stanford on Sunday, and Oregon St. headed for Seattle for a Saturday game with 7th. place Washington (13-9, 5-7), the possibility exists that Rueck could very well have his team alone in third place once the weekend is over.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com