No. 10 Oregon State knocks off No. 8 Stanford to clinch 3rd straight Pac-12 title

In front of a record crowd of 9,604 at Gill Coliseum, Oregon State clinched at least a share of their record-tying third straight Pac-12 regular season title. Sydney Wiese led all scorers and finished the game with 24 points.

The Beavs started the game as they have most of the season: Mikayle Pivec, Breanna Brown, Gabby Hanson, Marie Gulich.... and... the basketball robot sent here from the future herself, Sydney Wiese.

The first quarter was almost all defense, with both Stanford and Oregon State trading shot clock violations with one another. Sydney Wiese struggled to get it going thanks to the Cardinal’s stifling half court ball pressure. Picking her up as she crossed the center-line forced Wiese to pass the ball off early, leading to several offensive sets that the Beavers struggled to score from. A Kat Tudor three from the corner coupled with the Beaver’s own defense kept the game tied at 10 at the end of the first.

The second quarter remained at a defensive standstill, with the Beavers going into the half with a 20-18 lead. The difference maker in the first half was rebounding, which the Beavs have dominated in all season. At one point, they had five rebounds just on one possession. And that possession ended with a three from (who else) Sydney Wiese.

Though Sydney hit a couple big threes in the first half, Stanford obviously remembered her from her huge game at Maples. When she brought the ball up, the defense continued to wait for her at half court and force early passes. When she drove, a defender was on her hip with another waiting at the rim. She spent the whole half face-guarded away from the ball, yet still accumulated half of Oregon State’s points in the first.

The third was more of the same, only with Sydney Wiese heating up. The offensive rebounds continued to mount for the Beavs, with second and third chance points coming on almost every possession.

To start the fourth quarter, Oregon State had a 33-29 lead. And then it started to slip away. Stanford clawed their way to a 3 point lead before SYDNEY WIESE (gotta capitalize her name always from now on to show respect, its the law) hit a three to tie it up with 2 minutes left in the game, 43-43. Tied up with 20 on the clock, the Beavs had the ball and went for it early on the possession, which is my favorite thing Head Coach Scott Rueck did tonight. With the extra time from the early shot, even with the miss on the drive by Wiese, it was immediately cleaned up and the Beavs held on to their 50-47 lead to win.

The Beavers have locked up the top seed in the Pac-12 tournament and will finish their regular season at home on Sunday.