Beavers Beat Buffs 72-64.

The Beavers pulled off the season sweep against the Colorado Buffaloes with a 72-64 win tonight in Boulder. It was a close fought contest for most of the night, but the Beavers pulled away in the fourth when the defense clamped down on Colorado’s scoring. The Beavers improve to 5-5, and 3-5 in the conference.

Colorado started hot, with 7 points from Mya Hollingshed in the first three minutes giving the Buffs an early lead. At the start of the first, the Beavers tried hard to force the three, and while Taya Corosdale managed to hit one, the team missed their next 5, stagnating their scoring. Mya Hollingshed continued to power the Colorado offense, but Aleah Goodman finally broke the Beavers scoring drought, with a three, and Oregon State began to catch up.

Talia Von Oelhoffen managed to tie the game with a three late in the quarter, but a matching three from Lesila Finau put Colorado back in front. A Jelena Mitrovic jumper got the Beavers within one, and then Aleah Goodman gave their Beavers their first lead of the night with a layup right before the buzzer, 17-16.

In the second, Colorado got the lead back almost immediately with a Frida Formann three. Back to back threes from Aleah Goodman and Ellie Mack put the Beavers back in front a few minutes later. The Beavers began to pull away, but a clutch Mya Hollingshed three got Colorado back into the game. Oregon State maintained a slim lead headed into halftime, 41-39.

The Beavers scored the first five after the break to add to their lead. The Beavers then preceded to turn the ball over on their next three possessions, but Colorado struggled to capitalize, even with some solid offensive rebounding. Oregon State continued to play sloppy, and Colorado finally began to find their shooting tying the game up at 50 with less than a minute to go in the third. A Van Oelhoffen three gave the Beavers a 53-50 lead right before the end of the quarter.

Scoring remained slow in the fourth, but layups from Jelena Mitrovic and Goodman gave the Beavers a bit of a cushion. Talia Von Oelhoffen added a three, while Colorado still struggled to score. Sasha Goforth gave the Beavers a 10 point lead with 4 minutes to go with a layup. Oregon State continued to turn the ball over, but the Buffaloes continued to fail to capitalize on those mistakes, and couldn’t make a dent in the Beaver lead.

With OSU up 12 with just under two minutes left, things started to get interesting. Frida Formann hit back to back threes to cut Oregon State’s lead in half. Then, Colorado got a controversial jump ball on what looked like a foul by Lesila Finau. The Buffaloes failed to score, and with less than a minute to go in the game, were forced to start fouling the Beavers to get the ball back, but they quickly ended up in the bonus, and Oregon State hit their free throws. The Beavers got the win 72-64.

Aleah Goodman led the team in scoring again, with 21 points, 5 assists and 2 rebounds. She might be a bit worn out for Sunday’s game against Utah, as she played 38 minute tonight. Ellie Mack finished with 15 points, and was 3-3 on three point shots. She also added 7 rebounds and 2 assists. Talia Von Oelhoffen continued to impress in her third game with the team, finishing with 13 points, 4 assists and two rebounds.

It was a great night for three point shooting from the Beavers. The team went 10-19 total, with Mack, Goodman and Von Oelhoffen each hitting three. The team still needs to work on turnovers; they lost the ball 14 times tonight leading to 18 Colorado points. Things could have been worse, but the defense managed to frustrate Colorado after a lot of those turnovers, limiting their damage.

Oregon State will next travel to Salt Lake City for a rematch with the Utah Utes. Utah won the first matchup in Corvallis, 85-79, back in December. Since then, the team has struggled, picking up 7 losses due to a grueling schedule. It should be an excellent mathcup. Tip off is set for 11:00 AM PT.