Oregon State gets defensive at the end

By Kevin Hampton
Corvallis Gazette-Times

CORVALLIS n One defensive stop.

That was the task facing the Oregon State women’s basketball team Saturday afternoon at Gill Coliseum. The Beavers were clinging to a 63-61 lead with 1.9 seconds left and Drake in-bounding the ball under its basket.

Let a player slip down the lane for a lay-in and the game goes into overtime. Allow a shooter to scrape off a screen and drop in a 3-pointer and it’s over.

The Bulldogs never got the chance.

The pass was batted and Mandy Close snatched it away from the Bulldogs and cradled the ball as the horn sounded to give the Beavers their first 3-0 start in five years.

OSU forward Kim Butler said the Beavers used good communication on the play.

“I think (Anita Rivera) got the tip out of bounds and it got right to Mandy’s hands,” Butler said. “We were just playing hard-nosed defense and help-side.”

It was the kind of game that allowed the Beavers to show their mettle under a first-year coach in LaVonda Wagner.

It was simply fun for Butler, who led all scorers with 18.

“That’s why we play, for those last-minute, either-or, who’s going to win,” she said. “That’s what we play for. That’s the fun of it. We just kept our cool, got a great stop and ended up winning.”

The Beavers were pushed to the final moments for the second consecutive game after slipping past Pacific on Nov. 20.

“I’m just really proud of my team and this is the second game that we had to win a close one and come through at the end,” Wagner said. “Everybody just bonded together and closed it out and finished it.”

The Beavers could not manage to pull away from the Bulldogs (2-1), who entered the game without a loss, having won their exhibition games and the first two games of the season.

Oregon State held a 36-33 lead at the half, as the Beavers had 12 points off of turnovers and Rivera hit all three of her 3-point shots and had 13 of her 17 points.

Rivera said she has been fighting a shooting slump.

“I was starting to get a little down on myself, but coach told me, ‘Shooters come out and they keep shooting and you’re going to get it,’ ” Rivera said. “And I totally believe in coach and we’ve been working on it and working on it and finally it paid off.”

The lead, however, did not widen in the second half.

The teams exchanged scores until the 10-minute mark when Butler spun to the basket and scored for a 54-48 lead.

The Bulldogs went on an 11-2 run sparked by Jordann Plummer and Jane Horkey and took a 59-56 lead before Tiffany Ducker scored.

“We knew coming into this game that they’re a tough team, they’ve got great tradition in their program, and we knew it was going to be a battle,” Wagner said. “We just talked about playing hard and playing together and really getting some stops.”

Four free throws by Butler and Close gave OSU a 62-59 lead which was cut to one by Drake’s Natalie Raub with 1:32 left. Close added a free throw with 24 seconds left and the Beavers’ defensive pressure did the rest.

Close finished with 16 points and five assists. Butler and Rivera both had six rebounds and Tiffany Ducker had seven.

The Beavers grabbed several key rebounds and loose balls down the stretch.

“That’s the one thing we said at the beginning of the season is we had to get the hustle plays,” Wagner said. “We had to be scrappy, we had to work really hard. We’re not very deep.”

The Beavers head to Salt Lake City for a game against Utah on Dec. 1.