Oregon State Cruises Past USC, 76-52

Oregon State Women’s Basketball used a 24-7 third quarter to separate themselves from the pesky USC Trojan team during Sunday’s afternoon contest. Mikayla Pivec paced the Beavers with 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting and 8-of-8 free throws, and Madison Washington made her presence known with a career high 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting. The two juniors also pulled down seven rebounds a piece. The Women of Troy were led by Minyon Moore, who sat out Friday night’s contest against the fifth ranked Oregon Ducks, with 21 points.

The victory ends a weekend sweep of the schools in Los Angeles and extends Oregon State’s conference record to 4-0. Last year the Beavers went 0-2 in Southern California when they caught the turnover bug to the tune of 48 cough-ups.

Notes and Observations

The Beavers had difficulty finding a rhythm against the physical Trojan defense early in the game, finding themselves down 7-8. Insert Aleah Goodman to spark the Beavers onto a 12-3 run to end the first quarter a the lead that they would never relinquish. In that run, Oregon State made four three-point shots, three from Goodman, on just five possessions. Goodman finished with 17 points, going 5-of-7 from downtown.

Destiny Slocum scored just five points, but she was still a difference maker. She tallied six assists and was likely the primary factor as to why the Trojans did not enforce their vaunted press on the Beavers like they did a year ago. Her ability to bring up the ball quickly and protect the ball from sticky defenders makes the press easier to beat.

With the above being said, Oregon State still turned the ball over 20 times that lead to 16 points for USC. That’s an improvement from their last visit to USC where they coughed up the ball 27 times (for 26 points), but that’s still a lot. Most of those were committed during the first quarter, so it’s great to see that they were able to make the adjustments to better take care of the ball the rest of the game.

With USC being a smaller team, Washington was able to take advantage of the situation in the paint. This led to a career day for the junior with 19 points. It’s awesome to see her game develop as the year goes on, and I think it will be integral for this team’s success as PAC-12 play wears on.

Next up, Oregon State will host the Arizona schools, starting with the Arizona Wildcats on Friday night at 7:00 PM PST. Then on Sunday it will be the Arizona State Sun Devils at 2:00 PM PST. Check back with Building the Dam for more previews and recaps. Go Beavs!