Oregon State Women’s Basketball: Beavers Survive Early Scare to Beat Arkansas Pine Bluff 85-74

Despite an extremely rough first half, the Oregon State Women’s Basketball team survived an impressive effort from Arkansas Pine-Bluff to win their season opener 85-74, to open their season with a 1-0 record.

Oregon State struggled to open the game. Talia von Oelhoffen and Raegan Beers started the game in a promising fashion, giving the Beavers an early 4-0 lead, but the Golden Lions rebounded quickly. Arkansas-Pine Bluff capitalized on some very cold Beaver shooting in the early game. Led by a strong, 9 point first quarter from Zaay Green, the Golden Lions jumped out to a 25-15 first quarter lead on the Beavers, with Oregon State shooting 5 for 19 during the quarter.

The second quarter didn’t go much better for the Beavers, though Oregon State did manage to staunch the bleeding. Arkansas-Pine Bluff still managed to control the pace of the game, jumping out to a 46-33 lead at halftime, but by the end of the first half Oregon State’s shooting began to warm up.

The second half was all Beavers. Lily Hansford started the quarter with a big 3 point shot that set the tone, with OSU outscoring the Golden Lions 30-9 during the third quarter to take a 63-55 lead. Raegan Beers took center stage during the quarter, going 5 for 5 on field goals and scoring 10 points, but her shooting seemed to spark some energy in the rest of the team.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff rallied somewhat in the fourth, cutting the Beaver lead to just 1 point after an impressive rally led by Demetriah Shephard and Coriah Beck, but OSU regained control thanks to a quick layup from Dominika Paurova and clutch free throws from Lily Hansford. A three point shot from Donovyn Hunter sealed the deal, with the Beavers taking an 85-74 win over the Golden Lions.

Raegan Beers led the Beavers in scoring, with 19 points, 14 rebounds and 1 assist. Donovyn Hunter was right behind her with 14 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists; a promising start for the Beavers most promising freshman. Dominika Paurova rounded out the top scorers with 13 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assists.

Oregon State Women’s Basketball has some time to figure out their slow starting issues; they’ll be off the court until Sunday when they’ll welcome Villanova to Corvallis for a crucial non conference game.