There would be no dramatic finish on Sunday.
No. 9 Oregon State, which scored four points in the final 0.4 seconds on Friday night to stun Arizona State, was down 3 with 22.5 seconds left in overtime Sunday but threw away the inbounds pass and No. 12 Arizona was able to escape with a 65-58 Pac-12 women’s basketball win in front of a Gill Coliseum crowd of 5,682.
Oregon State (19-5, 7-5) falls into fifth place in the conference, a game behind Arizona (19-4, 8-4) with six games to play. The top four finishers have a first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament.
“Give Arizona State credit,” coach Scott Rueck said. “They hit big shots and played great defense in the second half. … Made the plays down the stretch just enough to win the game.”
The Beavers trailed by five after Sam Thomas’ 3-pointer with 1:15 to play before Kat Tudor’s reverse layup cut the deficit to 61-58 with 57 seconds left in overtime. Oregon State forced a missed shot and called timeout after grabbing the rebound and advancing the ball to its bench.
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But the Beavers never had a chance to set up for a game-tying shot as they turned the ball over and Aari McDonald sank two free throws to all but seal it.
McDonald finished with 22 points on 8-for-23 shooting while Dominique McBryde added 19 and Cate Reese 13, despite playing just 22 minutes due to foul trouble.
It was the first ever road win over a top-10 team for the Wildcats, who were coming off an 85-52 loss at No. 4 Oregon on Friday night.
Mikayla Pivec, who was the hero on Friday when she delivered the game-winner at the buzzer, led Oregon State with 15 points and 12 rebounds while playing 38 minutes all while battling four trouble.
Pivec surpassed the 1,500-point mark for her career in the first quarter and now has 1,513 to sit in ninth all-time at Oregon State. Anette Mollerstrom is in eighth with 1,582.
Destiny Slocum chipped in 11 points and dished out 10 assists while Aleah Goodman added 10 points.
After scoring 36 points in the first half, Oregon State managed just 22 in the second half and the five-minute overtime period. The Beavers were just 8 for 32 over that 25-minute span.
That after shooting 15 for 27 in the first half and getting to the basket often.
So what changed?
“They started switching screens, and we didn't move the ball as well as we should have, and could have, and then it got stagnant there in the second half and then into overtime,” Pivec said. “We weren’t able to execute as well as we should have.”
The third quarter started slowly as there were five combined fouls called and only five points in the first 3½ minutes. The Beavers took a 41-34 lead on Jasmine Simmons’ 3-pointer but the Arizona scored five straight to get within 41-39 at the media break.
The Wildcats took a 44-43 lead on a McDonald 3 but Maddie Washington’s putback allowed the Beavers to lead 45-44 going to the fourth.
Arizona took a three-point lead but Tudor’s 3 tied it at 50-all with 6 minutes left.
The teams traded basket and the Beavers tied it at 56-all on a Taylor Jones bucket with 1:26 left.
OSU got a stop but Goodman missed a 3 as the shot clock was about to expire and the Wildcats had a chance to win it in regulation.
Goodman fouled McDonald with 5.4 left but it was just the third team foul so Arizona took it out of bounds. Slocum them fouled McDonald with 3.5 left to set up the last play.
But all McDonald could get was a desperation 3 that was short and the game went to overtime.
OSU started the game hitting six of its first seven shots to take a 12-9 lead. Arizona, however, took a 19-17 lead after the quarter despite seven points from Goodman and six from Jones. OSU was 8 for 15 from the field while Arizona heated up in the second half of the period and finished 8 for 16. McDonald and McBryde both had six for the Wildcats.
The Beavers used an 11-2 run to take a 32-25 lead on Slocum’s and-one play with 5:54 left in the half and was 13 for 22 from the field at that point.
Arizona finally ended a scoring drought of 5:32 with a 3-pointer and a 3-point play by McDonald to cut the Beavers’ lead to 32-31.
But Washington had back-to-back layups and the defense held Arizona scoreless over the last 2:35 to take a 36-31 lead into the break.
Oregon State was 15 for 27 from the field and had a 17-11 edge on the glass. Arizona was 12 for 29 from the field with McBryde scoring 11 and McDonald nine.
Pivec had 11 and Goodman 10 in the first half.
The Wildcats kept it close by scoring nine points off seven Oregon State turnovers.
