Oregon State women’s basketball coach LaVonda Wagner refused to use youth as a crutch following a 71-68 loss to Team Concept on Wednesday before a crowd of 563 at Gill Coliseum.

Her logic? Freshmen should be able to make layups and free throws as well as veterans, two areas where OSU was deficient in the non-counting exhibition.

“We have to become more disciplined on offense and make sure our defensive assignments are what they need to be” in addition to cleaning up the aforementioned two areas, Wagner said. “We have to do the little things. We’re not a team that can get away with just showing up and playing.”

The Beavers trailed by 11 with 13:56 remaining but drew within 68-66 at 3:35 on a 3-pointer by freshman Jasmine Smith and to within 70-68 on a basket by Ashley Allen with 17 seconds remaining. They had a chance to tie after Da’Love Smith missed a free throw with 10 seconds to play, but Mercedes Fox-Griffin missed a driving layup and freshman Judie Lomax couldn’t get a shot off after snaring her 22nd rebound.

“We keep harping on what we need to do to make it work,” Wagner said. “We were able to keep it close and had the ability to win, that’s all fine and well, but if we make our free throws and layups we win by double digits.”

Former Baylor star Sheila Lambert hit a free throw with 1.1 seconds to play for the final margin. She led all scorers with 24 points and former New Mexico center Jordan Adams added 15.

A 5-foot-11 forward from The Bullis School in Potomac, Md., Lomax had 15 points to accompany her 22 boards. Allen, a junior transfer from Oregon, added 18 points and senior Casey Nash, the lone returning starter, had 16 points and eight rebounds.

“Coach works with us a lot on rebounding, especially because we’re not that tall,” Lomax said. “We have to be in good position.

“This game was definitely a reality check. We understand what coach is saying isn’t for nothing, we have to put it into effect. In practice the next couple days we plan on working on free throws, making our layups, communicating on defense, playing as a team.”

OSU earned four charging calls and outrebounded Team Concept 51-26, with 24 offensive boards.

“We’ve talked about creating possessions for ourselves” by rebounding and charges, “and we did, so that was really good,” Wagner said.

However, OSU’s 28 turnovers leveled the playing field, and it was 11 of 18 from the foul line in the second half after making 8 of 9 in the first 20 minutes, which closed 34 apiece.

“We turned around and give it back, so that’s kind of tough,” Wagner said. “We’re young, we’re learning, we’re learning about each other. We just have to stay with it and get better every day.”

OSU’s five true freshmen combined for 108 of a possible 200 minutes.

“Our inexperience and lack of depth showed,” Wagner said. “But if we take care of business and do the little things, we win this game.”

The Beavers host Western Oregon at 7 p.m. Sunday in their final exhibition. They open the regular season Nov. 11 against Southern Utah, also at Gill Coliseum.

“It doesn’t really matter if it’s an exhibition or a regular game,” Lomax said. “We want to work hard every day, play every game like it’s our last.”

Team Concept 71, Oregon State 68

TEAM CONCEPT (71): Lambert 10-17 2-3 24, Redd 2-8 1-2 6, Gunderson 1-8 1-1 3, Spencer 5-6 0-0 10, Adams 6-10 3-3 15, Ziemann 2-6 0-0 4, Kellett 0-0 0-0 0, Kolb 1-3 2-2 4, Woods 2-6 0-2 4. Totals 29-64 9-13 71.

OREGON STATE (68): Fox-Griffin 1-6 6-7 8, Allen 7-14 2-4 18, Nash 6-18 4-6 16, Lomax 6-10 3-5 15, Nichols 2-7 4-4 8, Young 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 1-4 0-0 3, Futch 0-0 0-0 0, Champlin 0-1 0 0-1 0. Totals 23-60 19-27 68.

Halftime: Oregon State 34, Team Concept 34.

3-Point Goals-Team Concept 4-12 (Lambert 2-4, Woods 1-1, Redd 1-3, Gunderson 0-2, Ziemann 0-2), Oregon State 3-10 (Allen 2-5, Smith 1-1, Nash 0-2, Fox-Griffin 0-1, Nichols 0-1). Fouled Out-None. Rebounds-Oregon State 51 (Lomax 22), Team Concept 26 (Adams 7). Assists-Team Concept 13 (Lambert 5), Oregon State 13 (Fox Griffin 3, Allen 3, Lomax 3). Total Fouls-Team Concept 27, Oregon State 20. A-563.