Oregon State Women’s Basketball: Cougars hold off Oregon State and earn the win 58-51

Following their win against Washington on Jan. 23 the Oregon State (9-5, Pac-12 2-2) women's team got ready for another midday showdown against the Washington State Cougars (11-6, Pac-12 3-3) on Jan. 26. The game was originally scheduled for last week but due to WSU COVID-19 issues, the game was rescheduled for today.

The Beavers offense struggled out of the gate, scoring only 6 points in the first quarter and having 14 turnovers in the first half. Washington State’s eight made three’s compared to Oregon State’s only one lifted the Cougars to the 58-51 win. Talia von Oelhoffen was the only Beaver to reach double-digit points with 10 while four out of the five Cougar starters surpassed double digits.

Von Oelhoffen got the Beavers on the board first followed by a Tea Adams jumper in the first minute and 10 seconds gave Oregon State the 4-2 lead. Washington State grabbed the lead back after Krystal Ledger-Walker made her first three of the day giving the Cougars the 5-4 lead.

The Beavers offense went ice cold and wouldn’t score their next points until 1:16 remaining in the first quarter after Ellie Mack converted a lay-in. Bella Murekatete knocked in a jumper for WSU and grew the home team’s lead to 12-6 at the end of the first quarter.

Oregon State went 3-14 on FGs in the opening quarter and would see their offense shake off the early funk and score 13 points in the second quarter.

Jelena Mitrovic scored the first three Oregon State points in the quarter and helped trim down the Washington State lead to only three at 12-9. Johanna Teder made two threes on back-to-back Cougar possessions to get Washington States lead back up to 18-11 with eight minutes remaining in the half.

Oregon State’s offensive woes continued after going on another scoring drought lasting near four minutes. Von Oelhoffen scored two layups in the last two and a half minutes to keep the Beavers close despite their sluggish start and being only down 25-19 at halftime.

Tea Adams and Kennedy Brown scored the first six Oregon State points to tie the game back at 25 in the first two minutes of the third quarter. The Ledger-Walker sisters combined to get the Cougar lead back up to six. With 2:35 left in the third Noelle Mannen made the first three-pointer for Oregon State on the day and the WSU lead only being six at 36-30. Ula Motuga made a layup in the last 20 seconds of the third quarter to hold Washington State’s lead at 42-35 going into the fourth quarter.

Motuga knocked down back-to-back threes to start the final quarter and the Cougars grew their lead to 13 at 48-35.

In the next four minutes, the Beavers outscored the Cougars 8-2 after Codding scored a reverse layup and Brown scored from close range making the score 50-45 with 3:40 remaining. Washington State responded with a quick run of their own with Bella Murekatete scoring two layups and getting the lead back up to 54-45 with 2 and a half minutes remaining. The Beavers were able to cut the lead down to five one more time after AJ Marotte scored a lay-in with 23 seconds left. But Charlise Ledger-Walker helped put the game on ice following a pair of made free throws and Washington State earning the win 58-51 over Oregon State.

Oregon State will now return to Corvallis for a home-stand against the LA schools, with the first matchup coming against USC on Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. and can be seen on Pac-12 Networks.