Oregon State WBB: Comeback Falls Short as Beavers Lose 63-60

Despite an impressive attempt at a comeback in the fourth, the Beavers couldn’t get it done against Stanford, falling 63-60 and extending their losing streak to four games in a row. The Beavers now sit at 19-8 overall and 7-8 in the conference.

Destiny Slocum and Taylor Jones powered the Beavers’ offense to start the game. Slocum put up 9 points while Jones had 8, almost the entirety of OSU’s scoring in the first quarter. That was enough to keep pace with a balanced Stanford attack that gave the Cardinal a 21-19 lead at the end of the quarter.

A pair of free throws from Jones tied the game early in the second, and a Slocum three gave the Beavers the lead, but Kiana Williams answered with a pair of back to back threes to give the lead back to the Cardinal. Stanford continued to hold a slim lead for most of the second, but couldn’t pull away. A Destiny Slocum layup with seconds to go kept the Beavers only down 2, 36-34, at the end of the half.

After holding tough for two quarters, Stanford’s offense finally broke through the Beaver defense in the third. The game turned foul heavy, in the Cardinal’s favor, powering them to a 10-0 run. The Beavers battled back, and some great shooting from Mikayla Pivec helped, but ended the quarter down 9, 54-45.

Oregon State didn’t score for the first three minutes of the final quarter, letting Stanford build themselves a comfy, 14 point lead. Destiny Slocum finally found the will to spark a comeback, hitting back to back threes to get the margin back down to single digits. Mikayla Pivec then scored the next four points, giving the Beavers their own 10 point run, and getting within four of the Cardinal. Kiana Williams hit a jumper, but a Kat Tudor three with 30 seconds left in the game got the Beavers within one score. Taylor Jones stepped up and stole the ball from Lexie Hull, setting the stage for one last chance to tie the game. Sadly, Destiny Slocum’s three missed its mark, and the Beavers fell 63-60.

Despite the final missed shot, Slocum had an amazing game, with 26 points, 3 rebounds an an assist. Taylor Jones finished the night with 14 points, 12 rebounds, 5 blocks a steal and an assist. Mikayla Pivec rounded out the top scorers with 13 pointns, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists. Those three contributed nearly all of the Beavers’ scoring tonight.

The Beavers will now need to win out to ensure a winning conference mark. They’ll try to get their first win in weeks on Sunday, February 23rd when they travel to Berkeley to take on California. Tip off is set for 2:00 PM PT, and the game will be aired on the Pac-12 Networks.