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.

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The Oregon St. women's basketball team has now won 4 games in a row, after sweeping the weekend series with Colorado and Utah. The Beavers went wire to wire in both wins, defeating Colorado 65-45 Thursday night, and backed it up by beating Utah 62-49 Saturday afternoon. It's the first time in 11 years Oregon St. has won 4 consecutive conference games.

Earlysia Marchbanks had a huge hand in the wins, posting a game high 13 points to lead a balanced Oregon St. effort against Colorado, and then had her career best effort, posting a career high 22 points as part of a game leading double double, where her 10 rebounds led the Beavers, and co-led the game.

"Before the (Utah) game, Coach Rueck came up to me and said ‘let the game come to you,'" Marchbanks said. "The first basket went in, and then I was able to get some steals. The baskets just came easy after that. All week long coach said that if I get the rebound I can go, and that's what I did. Easy buckets came, and I got my teammates involved."

Marchbanks had 5 boards, 3 assists, and 3 steals against the Buffs, and upped those numbers to 4 assists and 5 steals against the Utes.

The Beavers got off to solid defensive starts in both games, holding Colorado in single digits scoring for 14 1/2 minutes, which staked them to a double digit lead that would never shrink back to single digits, and limiting Utah to 11 points for almost 13 minutes.

The Buffs never recovered, trailing by as many as 27 points before Beavers' coach Scott Rueck began to experiment in the final 5 minutes. Which is the time to try things, up by more than 20 points with only a few minutes left.

The Utes were more persistent, rallying within 4 points by halftime, and again early in the second half. The Beavers responded with a 13-1 run, only to see Utah scratch back to within 5 points, down only 50-45 with nearly 4 minutes still to go. Oregon St. slammed the door on Utah with a 12-4 run to the finish.

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Final Score: Oregon St. 67 Oregon 60

It was a hard fought back and forth Civil War game today in Corvallis. OSU freshman Ali Gibson had a huge second half to lead the Beavs from an eight point deficit to win the first 2011-12 installment of the Civil War series.

In a live televised game the Beavs overcame some poor first half shooting, poorly executed inside the post offense, and Oregon's so-called high octane offense to rally from eight points down late in the second half, at the 7:36 mark, with a 22-7 run to the finish to beat the Ducks 67 to 60.

Gibson had a career high 23 points that included some very timely 3-pointers and a wonderful alley-oop basket late into the game. The highlight was her 3-pointer, right, to put the Beavs up five with just under two minutes left in the game.

"They weren't recruited (by Oregon)," Oregon St. coach Scott Rueck said of his squad. "They believed they had something to say about that."

Gibson wasn't alone though and Patricia Bright had some strong defense down the stretch including more blocks, none more key than a late block when the Ducks were trying to close the final couple minutes gap. Bright also put in a double double with 12 rebounds and 11 points to go along with her continued above record pace four blocks.

And Alyssa Martin hit two key three-pointers in the final few minutes that were instrumental in closing the eight point gap Oregon built including the 3-pointer that gave the Beavs a 59 to 57 lead at the 2:47 mark, a lead that the Beavs then did not relinquish, and she also made some important last minute free-throws.

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With most of the attention being garnered by the men's team (both good and bad so far this season) I wanted to take a moment to update everyone on the women's season so far. Not totally sure it is the mid-way point overall, but the women are also on the final stretch of their 2011-12 season.

The women this season are also having their struggles in conference play with a record of 3 and 5. Much like their counterparts the men the team started out well in non-conference play going 9 and 2 and winning their first six games (including a non-record counting exhibition game). Funny enough the women also have paralled the men with some tough conference losses, such as a double OT loss to Washington State and a last second loss to Arizona. At the same time they have had some impressive overall performances such as beating Arizona State and playing the 4th ranked Cardinal tough in a 67 to 60 loss that the Beavs were winning at half time (35 to 31).

I was at the Arizona loss and it was interesting in how much it reminded my of watching the men's team this year in that the Beavs and WIldcats played a pretty rough first half, then things got going in the second half and actually looked as if OSU was going to take control, but then some sloppy last minute play and execution on both sides of the ball ended in a heartbreaking loss much like what happened when the men played Arizona! But from my brief observations this season I was impressed with the inside game of the Beavs, especially on defense such as Patricia Bright (featured in the upper right) who has a mind-staggering 66 blocks to date! (But wow is women's basketball officiating the polar opposite of men's in that they actually let them play?!?)

Some highlights so far this season for the Beavs include: Patricia Bright's average of 3.5 blocks per game that leads the Pac-12 and is fourth in the country (and is the sixth-most in a single season challenging the record set last season by El Sara Greer). Sage Indendi (right) making her 100th career three-pointer (now is at 102). And the team's leading scorer being Freshman Ali Gibson. Additionally for the most part, except for two games (losses to pretty good St. Marys and California teams), the team has not lost games by large margins and have been in the middle of almost all their games. Of course all these individual accomplishments and team minor victories does not mean they will all end up translating into a winning record, but the signs are there for a possible strong final run this season.

Following are some season stats and a few more pics, and just to note that women's Civil War game will be televised live this Saturday on FSN at 4:00 in what looks to be an important game for both teams in terms of conference standings.

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Oregon St. women's basketball coach Scott Rueck has received verbal commitments from a trio of northwest players, two from Oregon.

Three time Oregon 5A all-state selection Samantha Siegner from West Albany, one of the top prospects in the region, highlights the group.

Siegner, a 6'3" forward, led the Bulldogs to the 2011 5A State Championship game against Springfield, as West Albany came within 2 points of the title, before falling 42-40.

Siegner selected Oregon St. over offers from Oregon, Gonzaga, Washington St., Arizona St., and Kansas St., averaged 17.8 points and 10.5 rebounds in her junior season.

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Right on the heels of signing 6'7" Thais Pinto, Oregon St. womens' basketball coach Scott Rueck has announced the signing of another JC transfer post player. 6'4" post player Patricia Bright comes to Oregon St. from Phoenix, AZ, and Desert Vista High School, by way of Pensacola State College in Florida.

As a sophomore this past season at Pensacola St., Bright was a key part of the Pirates' 36-1 season, and a third place finish at the NJCAA Tournament, with their only loss being in the national semi-finals.

"Patricia knows what it takes to be successful," Rueckl said. "She comes to us from a top-notch junior college program and having played for Chanda Rigby. She is a long, athletic player, who has great speed, and can play both post positions. Offensively, she has the ability to step out and shoot the three, as well as score with her back to the basket."

Bright has 2 years of eligibility remaining.

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Oregon St. women's basketball coach Scott Rueck added two more JC transfers to the Beaver roster, joining Oregonian Molly Schwegler.

Quortni Fambro from Decatur, GA, and ShaKiana Edwards-Teasley from Lapwai, ID, have transferred to Oregon St.

Fambro averaged 10.4 points per game to lead Northwest Florida State College, and shot 40 percent for the season, which ended with a runner-up finish at the state tournament.

Fambro transferred to NWSC from Alabama St., where as a true freshman she averaged 3.8 points and 1.4 rebounds per game.

"I chose Oregon State because when I came on my visit I loved the environment and the people," Fambro said. "I thought it would be a great opportunity to get out of the South - since the furthest I've ever traveled is South Carolina - so it's something different for me."

Edwards-Teasley comes to the Beavers after leading North Idaho to back-to-back NJCAA Tournament appearances, and the 2011 NJCAA Championship. Edwards-Teasley posted a career best 17 points in the title game, and a high of 14 rebounds in the semifinals.

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Oregon St. women's basketball has added an experienced guard to the team. Mollee Schwegler, a 5'7" native of Rainier, OR, has signed with Scott Rueck's squad, after playing the last two seasons for Lower Columbia Community College in Longview, WA.

Schwegler earned NWAACC Western Division first team honors as a freshman, placing in the top 15 in the conference in scoring (15.7 points per game), steals (77), and assists (3.7). As a sophomore, she stepped up her production, scoring 18.3 points per game while also serving up 6.7 assists. As a result, she earned the Western Division's Most Valuable Player honor.

Schwegler led the Lady Devils to a 40-16 overall record in two seasons, which included a 30-2 mark in league. During her sophomore campaign, Lower Columbia went 16-0 in Western Division play. She also became LCC's all time leading scorer, with 915 points (16.3 per game), and averaged 4.95 assists and 2.8 steals per game overall.

As a senior at Rainier, Schwegler led the Columbians back to the Oregon 3A tournament Final 4, after they had completed a perfect season in her junior campaign, claiming the state title.

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