Oregon State Women’s Basketball: Opponent Preview - Duke

The 11th ranked Oregon State Beavers Women’s basketball team takes on the Duke Blue Devils in game 11 of the season. Tip-off is slated for 7 PM PST on Thursday, December 20th. The game will be televised on the PAC-12 Network, or you can check out the team’s Twitter page for other ways to follow along live. Let’s take a closer look at the Devils.

Duke (6-3 overall, 0-0 conference)

Last season: 22-8 overall, 11-5 in ACC (T-4th), lost in Sweet 16 of NCAA Tournament

This will be a rematch of last year’s contest in Durham, North Carolina, where the Blue Devils won, 65-72. The Blue Devils will look a bit different from the one a year ago as they will be without three of their starters from last season, including All-American Lexi Brown, and three point specialist Rebecca Greenwell.

The Blue Devils are currently on a three game winning streak after starting the year 3-3, including losses to Northwestern, Washington, and Missouri, all Power 5 schools with winning records. Don’t expect the losses to pile up though as their head coach, Joanne McCallie, has collected the ACC Coach of the Year Award three times in just 11 seasons. So if anyone can guide this team to another deep NCAA Tournament run, it’s McCallie.

There would have been a common opponent between these two schools in South Carolina, but the Blue Devils’ matchup with the Gamecocks had to be canceled due to weather conditions predicted for December 9th.

Who to watch

Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

#5 - Leaonna Odom, Junior Forward

In last season’s matchup, Odom logged a game high 38 minutes against the Beavers on her way to a 16 point and eight rebound performance. She currently leads the team in rebounds with 8.2 per game, and is their second leading scorer at 15.9 per contest.

#2 - Haley Gorecki, Junior Guard

Leading the team in minutes (35.6 per game) and points (16.6), Gorecki looks to be one of the main women on this team after showing flashes of great play early in her career. Unfortunately, her time at Duke has been hampered by injures thus far, sitting out nearly two full seasons.

#31 - Miela Goodchild, Freshman Guard

The Aussie is a former teammate of Oregon State’s Jasmine Simmons back in their FIBA U-17 days when they won the World Championship in 2016. Today, Goodchild is having quite the start to her freshman campaign by leading the team in three-point accuracy at 47.5 percent while having recorded seven starts in the team’s first nine games.

Prediction

Will the Beavers get back on the winning track against another tough non-conference opponent? Since they’re playing at Gill, I say “yes”. The Beavers will need to find a way to keep Odom in check as the rangy forward could give the frontcourt some trouble. Oregon State should grind out a tough contest to get their ninth win.