Beavers Escape Utah Comeback, Win 84-74

The Oregon State women grabbed their third win in a row with an 84-74 victory on the road against Utah. Oregon State looked solid for three quarters, but a dicey fourth quarter made the game a lot more interesting than it looked like it would be. The win splits the season series with Utah, who won the first contest in Corvallis 85-79. The Beavers improve to 6-5 overall and 4-5 in conference play

A layup from Taylor Jones got scoring started in the first, and then back to back threes from Aleah Goodman put the Beavers in the driver’s seat. Lola Pendade then got the Utah offense going, and the Utes started climbing back into the game. Kelsey Reese and Talia Von Oelhoffen traded threes to close the quarter with the Beavers up 7, 23-16.

A Utah run powered by Dru Gylten tied things up to open the second quarter, and a few minutes later Brynna Maxwell gave the Utes their first lead of the game with a three. Things stayed close until a three pointer from Taya Corosdale started an OSU run that put the Beavers up 44-35 as the half ended.

Oregon State started the third trying to get Taylor Jones going, and it worked out well, with Jones scoring the first six points of the quarter. Utah began to slow the game down, turning into a physical, foul heavy contest. They managed to chip away at the Beavers lead a bit, but Jones and Sasha Goforth kept OSU’s scoring consistent, and the team finished the third leading 66-51.

That didn’t last into the fourth, when momentum swung heavily toward the Utes. Threes from Brynna Maxwell and Andrea Torres wiped out much of the Beavers lead, and the only scoring OSU could manage for the first seven minutes of the quarter was a single Aleah Goodman three pointer. By that point, the Beaver lead had gone from 15 to just 2.

Talia Von Oelhoffen finally broke the Beavers cold streak with a three, and layups from Taylor Jones and Sasha Goforth gave the Beavers a bit more breathing room. With time running out, Utah was forced to start fouling to have a chance, and the Beavers hit their shots to put the game away.

Four Beavers hit double digits in scoring, with Aleah Goodman leading the way with 21 points. She also added 5 assists and 2 rebounds. Sasha Goforth finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 2 assists. After a rough couple games, Taylor Jones bounced back with 15 points and 6 rebounds. Talia Von Oelhoffen added 12 points 4 assists and 3 rebounds.

Next weekend the Beavers will return home to take on the Arizona schools. The team’s first game against Arizona State was postponed due to Covid-19 protocols, and they lost at Arizona 67-51. They’ll take on #10 Arizona on Friday, February 5th at 4:00 PM PT and Arizona State on Sunday, February 7th at 12:00 PM PT.