The Beavers fended off the Huskies in a 61-53 win Friday night, securing a victory despite a big night from UW guard Kelsey Plum.
Plum was hot from the field all night for the Huskies, scoring 30 points on 10-22 shooting, including 9-for-9 shooting from the free throw line. Plum scored 11 points in the last 2:10 seconds, working fervently but unsuccessfully to steal the game away late.
OSU head coach Scott Rueck should not be too displeased about Plum's field day, as the rest of the Huskies roster combined for only 23 points. No one else scored more than six points, a testament to the Beavers' defense letting Plum get her shots and clamping down elsewhere.
After a 31-18 halftime lead, the Beavers looked geared to cruise to an easy victory in the second half. However, they were outscored in both the third and fourth quarters and never truly put the Huskies away until the final buzzer sounded.
Senior guard Jamie Weisner lead the Beavers in scoring, tallying 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting and 3-of-5 shooting from beyond the arch. Weisner scored her 1500th career point in the first quarter, becoming only the 7th player in Oregon State history to do so.
Deven Hunter and Sydney Wiese also put up big performances for the Beavers, with the latter providing solid interior presence and Wiese deftly running the show on offense, with 12 points and three 3-pointers.
After defeating the streaking No. 8 Arizona State earlier in the week, the No. 24 Huskies were the second ranked team that the Beavers have defeated in a span of four days. And though what was a 20 point lead dwindled to single digits, a road win over a top 25 opponent is still a very good win, especially given that Washington had upset the last 3 top-10 teams that had come to Seattle, OSU included. A prompt visit to the top five of national polls may be in the OSU's future.
OSU will travel to Pullman to take on Washington State this Sunday, Feb. 7 before returning to Corvallis for a four-game home stand at Gill.
