Oregon State defeats Cal 70 to 48

In this important Pac-12 match up the Cal Golden Bears were coming in with a disappointing 1 and 3 Pac-12 record, which helped knock them out of the rankings for the first time since their second game of the season, a win over the then #8 Louisville Cardinals.  Number 12 in the country Oregon State was coming in off a strong two-game sweep of the Oregon Ducks to bounce back from their disappointing conference loss to UCLA.

With Sydney Wiese, who was seen as "hopeful" for this game, missing her seventh straight game due to her hand injury, Scott Rueck again went with Jamie Weisner, Gabriella Hanson, Katie McWilliams, Deven Hunter, and Ruth Hamblin.

The start of the first quarter saw a back-and-forth duel between the two teams, with Jamie Weisner scoring the first four points and Ruth Hamblin the next four.  But Kristine Anigwe scored six of California's first eight points, and behind a Gabby Green drive Cal went up 10 to 8 at the 6:02 mark.  OSU's own Gabby, Gabby Hanson answered with a 3-point basket to put the Beavs up 11 to 10, and a couple possessions later a Katie McWilliams 3-point basket gave the Beavers a 16 to 12 lead at the 4:17 mark.  Behind solid defensive play Oregon State closed the first quarter with a 18 to 14 lead.

After a fairly brisk early on scoring pace by both teams in the first quarter, the second quarter saw play slow down.  The second quarter also saw Gabriella Hanson briefly leave the game and to the locker room with a possible injury, but Gabby was able to return to the game which was very important for Oregon State's scoring.  Indeed her return was very important in terms of the end result of the game.  Oregon State at times was able to stretch the Cal defense and extended out the lead to 31 to 23 behind a Hanson 3-point basket and next possession layup.  Jamie Weisner's basket then put up the Beavs 33 to 23 at the 1:52 mark.  As the horn sounded Oregon State was able to take a 35 to 26 lead into the break.

Oregon State went into the halftime locker room shooting a very solid 15 for 28 (54%) from the field, hit 4 of 13 of their 3-point attempts, and made 1 of 2 free throws.   The Beavs also grabbed 14 rebounds, and had 4 turnovers.   Gabriella Hanson led the Oregon State scorers with 13 points, followed by Ruth Hamblin with 8 points, and Jamie Weisner had 7 points. California hit 11 of their 25 attempts (44%), including 3 for 10 three-pointers, went 1 for 4 from the free throw line, had 15 rebounds, and turned it over 5 times.  The Golden Bears were led by Kristine Anigwe and Mikayla Cowling who both had 8 points

The opening of the second half again saw a bit of the scoring back-and-forth that opened the game, but Oregon State overcame some sloppy play on the offensive side to open up a 41 to 28 lead behind a Deven Hunter 3-point basket at the 7:12 mark of the third quarter.  The Beavs continued to push the advantage behind solid defense and a 11 to 0 scoring run, which allowed OSU to expand their lead 47 to 28 at the five minute mark of the quarter.   The quarter then ended with Oregon State leading comfortably 54 to 35.

The final quarter of the game saw Oregon State, behind their strong defense continue to take advantage of Cal's poor shooting and turnovers.   Marie Gülich's basket was able to extend the Oregon State lead to 63 to 39 at the 5:29 mark, and a Ruth Hamblin layup put the lead up to 67 to 41.  Freshman Taylor Kalmer was also able to contribute off the bench with a 3-point basket that pushed the OSU lead up to 70 to 43.  When all was said and done Oregon State claimed their fourth conference win 70 to 48.

Oregon State finished the game hitting an impressive 29 of 52 (56%) field goals, made 8 of 20 three-pointer attempts, and converted 4 for 6 of their free throws.   The Golden Bears out-rebounded the Beavers 34 to 31.  Cal slightly won the turnover battle with 11 turnovers to Oregon State's 12, but the Beavers scored eight points off Cal's turnovers to only four points for Cal.  On the other side California hit 20 of their 59 field goal attempts (34%), 5 for 21 three-pointers, and hit 3 for 6 of their free throws.

Oregon State scoring was led by Gabriella Hanson with a career high 20 points, Jamie Weisner scored 16 points, and Ruth Hamblin had 15 points.  Courtney Range led the way for Cal with 17 points and Kristine Anigwe finished with 16 points.

Hamblin and Weisner both just missed double doubles, as did Range, as all 3 finished with a tri-game high 9 rebounds each.

The game was an impressive win over a Cal team that came in with a current lopsided 15 of 16 series advantage, though the Beavers have now beaten the Bears twice in a row.  Gabby Hanson was especially impressive stepping up her scoring as Jamie Weisner had bit of an off game on offense.  Oregon State also showed off their depth completely pulling away from the Golden Bears in the second half.

Oregon State will next face the #11 Stanford Cardinal (4-1, 14-3), who are coming off a hard fought, come from behind and last second 64 to 62 win against the Oregon Ducks.  This key conference match up against two top 25 teams will tip off in Gill Coliseum this Sunday at 6:00pm.  It will should be an exciting game, and an important game for Oregon State who have not won over Stanford under Scott Rueck.

Go Beavs!