The Oregon State Women's Basketball team got off to a great start to the season, winning 9 of their first 10 non-conference games, with their only loss coming to then top-ranked North Carolina.
Since then, the Lady Beavers have ran into some turbulence in the Pac-10 schedule. They dropped their first two games at UCLA and Cal, and lost again to Arizona State at Gill Coliseum. They were 0-3 before they won their first conference game, a 68-43 defeat of Arizona.
Next, it was a road-trip to Washington, where the Beavers split the series with the Huskies and the Cougars. Washington State handed the Beavers their fourth conference loss in Pullman, while the Beavers picked up their second conference win in Seattle against Washington.
While their male counterparts gained fame for beating both Cal and Stanford in the Bay Area, the women weren't as lucky. They dropped both games of the homestand, losing to Cal 77-72 and Stanford 69-54.
With an entire week to prepare, the Beavers closed out the first half of Pac-10 play with an important victory over Oregon. With the help of four double-digit scorers and an intensity on the boards which resulted in an 38-19 advantage, OSU defeated the Ducks by 19 points, the largest margin of victory in the series. Brittney Davis led the team with 16 points on 5-for-10 shooting.
Oregon State currently sits at seventh place in the Pac-10, with a 3-6 Pac-10 record after the first nine games. Washington State (2-7), Arizona (1-8), and Washington (1-8) are ranked lower.
Talisa Rhea leads the team in scoring with 14.4 points per game and four and half rebounds. She's third in the conference in scoring, and second in three-pointers made. Senior Mercedes Fox-Griffin, who is averaging a near 5 assists per game, ranks second in the conference in that category. She's also one of the best free-throw shooters in the conference, as she's only missed five over the course of the season.
The Lady Beavers will be in Arizona this week to take on UA and ASU, followed by Washington and Washington State at home.
--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)