Big Comeback Leads Beavers to 82-74 Win Over Cal

After a terrible loss at Stanford, the Beavers needed a big bounce back win before their home and home with Oregon. They got it at Cal, but it wasn’t easy. The Beavers once against started the game off with cold shooting, and the Bears capitalized, building an early lead in the second quarter.

The Beavers didn’t back down, and Destiny Slocum led the team back form the brink, getting the win 82-74. With the win, the Beavers are now 20-4 overall, and 10-2 in the conference. On Friday, they’ll travel to Oregon to take on the Ducks, currently ranked third in the country. On Sunday, the Ducks return the favor and head up to Corvallis.

Things started shakey for the Beavers, with Cal scoring the first five points. Destiny Slocum got the Beavers their first points of the game, and then Maddie Washington followed that up with a pair of layups to get their first lead of the game.

Destiny Slocum hit a big three to give the Beavers some room, but Cal fought back, and a three from Jaelyn Brown gave the Bears the lead back. A pair of threes late in the first allowed Cal to start building their lead, and the Bears ended the quarter up 20-15.

Cal kept that pace up to start the second, and a 6-0 run got their lead up to 11. Things were looking grim for the Beavers until Destiny Slocum got them started on a scoring run, and Aleah Goodman delivered a big three and a jumper to get the Cal lead down. A layup by Joana Grymek with 20 seconds left in the half cut the Bears margin down to 2, 37-35..

Taya Corosdale got the second half started right with a big three, giving the Beavers their first lead since the first. An Asha Thomas 3 got the Bears back the lead, but then OSU finally got hot.

An Aleah Goodman steal turned into a Mikayla Pivec layup, and that got a 10-0 Beaver run started. Aleah Goodman helped with another three, and the Beavers finally had a lead to work with.

At the end of the third, OSU led 59-51. Cal’s Asha Thomas cut the Beaver lead down quickly with a pair of threes. Oregon State could not put the Golden Bears away, as they kept hitting clutch threes and grabbing key offensive rebounds.

Destiny Slocum’s great shooting kept the Beavers in front, and eventually Cal just ran out of time. Grymek hiit a layup with a minute and a half to go to give the Beavers a 4 point lead, and Cal could not hit their shots. They would foul to try to keep their hopes alive, but Mikayla Pivec and Aleah Goodman did not miss from the foul strip, ending the game in an 82-74 OSU victory.

Destiny Slocum was once again the player of the game for the Beavers, finishing with 26 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. Three shooting has been very cold for the Beavers this road trip, but Slocum and Aleah Goodman each hit 2 tonight. Goodman was the Beavers second leading scorer today, with 17 points, in addition to 5 rebounds and 2 assists.

Mikayla Pivec once again led the team in rebounds, and had another big game scoring. She finished with 16 points, 8 rebounds and an assist. Pivec and Goodman were both perfect from the foul line in today’s game, 6-6 and 5-5 respectively. That was crucial when sealing the win as the fourth quarter ticked down.

The most crucial series of the Beavers’ season is coming up; the home and home with Oregon. Check back with Building the Dam for a preview of the games, and be sure to get to Gill and cheer the squad on on Monday.