The Lady Beavers took care of business Thursday night, defeating UC Irvine 71-42 for their fourth consecutive win. The team is now 7-1 on the season, with their only loss coming to second ranked and currently undefeated North Carolina.
Oregon State recently picked up two votes in the AP Top 25. Stanford, Cal, and Arizona State are the other Pac-10 teams currently ranked in the poll.
Senior guard Britney Davis (pictured, right) and sophomore center Alex Mitchell led the Beavers in scoring with 18 points each. Davis was fifth in the Pac-10 in scoring coming into the game, and scored over her average of 14.6 points per game. Mitchell, who has one of the best shooting percentages in the conference, was 8 of 12 from the field and 2 of 4 from the free throw line.
Oregon State's leading scorer, Talisa Rhea, played 22 minutes but only attempted two shots, missing them both. We'll try and check in on her situation-- it seems that she wouldn't have played as many minutes if she was suffering from an injury.
Senior guard Mercedes Fox-Griffin added 12 points and 4 assists for the Beavers. She currently leads the Pac-10 with 5.1 assists per game. She also leads the conference in free throw shooting-- she hasn't missed yet. She was 1 of 1 against the Anteaters, moving her season mark to 16 of 16.
The Beavers shot just under their season average from the field, as they were 25 of 54. LaVonda Wagner has been making defense a priority, and it showed Thursday night. UC Irvine shot only 35 percent from the field (15 of 42), and were just 1 of 7 from the three point line.
Oregon State won the rebounding battle by seven. They've now out-rebounded their opponents in every game this season except for the loss to North Carolina.
UC Irvine was 3-5 coming into the contest. The Anteaters were picked to finish eighth in the Big West conference in both the Preseason Media and Coaches polls.
Oregon State now gets a few days rest in California before heading to play Cal State Bakersfield on Sunday. The Road Runners are 7-5, coming off a 66-51 victory over Pepperdine.
(photo via OSU Athletics)
--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)