Oregon State Women’s Basketball: Beavers Open Season With 61-60 Win Over Hawaii

Oregon State Basketball is finally back, and despite being pushed to the brink by the Rainbow Wahine of Hawaii, the Beavers pulled off a season opening 61-60 win.

While Talia von Oelhoffen got the scoring started with a layup off a fast break, it was Hawaii who took control of the game early. With a 7 point quarter from Kallin Spiller, and a pair of three pointers from Lily Wahinekapu, the Rainbow Wahine jumped out to a 20-7 lead, before Lily Hansford hit a three for the Beavers to cut the Hawaii lead to 20-10 at the end of the first.

After a low scoring first, the Beavers started to find their footing in the second. Jelena Mitrovic started a 10 point run for the Beavers with a layup, which was capped off by another Lily Hansford three to tie the game. After a Spiller layup, yet another Hansford three gave the Beavers their first lead since the first minute of the game.

The Wahine jumped back out in front, going up 30-23, but the Beavers once again fought back, going on a seven point run to tie the game at halftime, 30-30. Once the teams came out of the locker room, Oregon State continued to build momentum. A three from AJ Marotte put the Beavers in front at the beginning of the quarter, as OSU started to build a lead.

That lead got as high as 10 points when a Talia von Oelhoffen layup put the Beavers up 48-38, but then Hawaii started to wake back up. Daejah Phillipos scored four straight to get the Wahine close, cutting the Beaver lead to 48-44 heading into the final quarter.

The Beavers managed to stay in front for the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, but Hawaii would not go away. Finally, Lily Wahinekapu buried a three to tie the game up at 54. Another three, from Jovi Lefotu, put the Wahine back in front, with 4 and a half minutes to go. A Talia von Oelhoffen free throw and a Lily Hansford layup tied things back up, and the Beavers then took the lead with a von Oelhoffen layup. Hawaii tied things up with 25 seconds left on the clock, but the Beavers had a chance to keep things from going to overtime.

Oregon State got the ball to Talia von Oelhoffen, but her layup didn’t go in, and time expired as the rebound went wide. Miraculously, OSU would get one last shot. On the rebound, Noelle Mannen was fouled, giving her two shots from the free throw line. She missed the first, but sank the second to give the Beavers a 61-60 win.

AJ Marotte led the Beavers in scoring with 16 points and 7 rebounds. Talia von Oelhoffen was second, with 14 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Lily Hansford rounded out the double digit scorers with 11 points and 3 rebounds.

The Beavers will be back in action on Thursday, when they host Seattle. Tip off is set for 6:00 PM PT.