Brandi Davis wouldn’t have it.
The Oregon State women’s basketball team tried to come back and win its second Civil War game in one week, but the Ducks’ senior guard emphatically said no.
Oregon survived a late Oregon State run to win 54-45 before 4,718 Saturday afternoon at McArthur Court. The Ducks’ win avenged a 63-61 loss Wednesday night in Corvallis.
Oregon (13-7 overall, 4-6 Pacific-10 Conference) led 39-33 when Davis made a steal and converted two free throws at the other end. She followed with a three-point play, an assist to Gabrielle Richards and a jumper with 1:39 remaining to give Oregon a 47-39 lead and clinch the Ducks’ win.
“The hoop Brandi got by taking it hard to the lane was not only a momentum builder, but one of her finest moves at Oregon,” Oregon coach Bev Smith said of Davis’s three-point play. “She took it up, got the contact, made the basket, hit the floor hard and got the free throw.”
Oregon State (9-9, 3-7) took advantage of Oregon’s slow second-half start. Beaver point guard Mandy Close and forward Kim Butler keyed Oregon State’s push. Butler scored all 14 of her points in the second half, and the Beavers pulled within five, 38-33, before Davis’ heroics.
Close scored 12 points on 5-for-20 shooting, including 0 for 6 on three-pointers.
Close and Butler, Oregon State’s main scorers, struggled to find the net after combining for 42 points Wednesday night.
Butler picked up two fouls within three minutes and sat out most of the rest of the first half, before picking up her third foul minutes before halftime.
“Obviously, for us, that forced us to run some things offensively, and we weren’t able to get the ball in the basket and we just had a rough shooting night in the first half,” Oregon State coach LaVonda Wagner said.
Without Butler, and no one filling her scoring void, Close struggled to 1 for 9 first-half shooting.
“A sign of a great team is you find different ways (to score),” Close said. “You get to the line, or you get the ball inside and get bunnies. We just didn’t do that very well in the first half. We didn’t get to the line enough and we didn’t get inside enough.”
Poor shooting was a common theme for both teams in the first half. Oregon forward Eleanor Haring made the game’s first field goal six minutes in and Oregon State’s Casey Nash made the Beavers’ first bucket 30 seconds later. Oregon State shot 14.3 percent in the first half, with Oregon shooting 34.5 percent.
Smith attributed first-half misfires to the rivalry and playing two close games against the same team in one week.
“I felt our energy and our effort was very good,” Smith said. “When we have that, I knew sooner or later we would come through offensively.”
It turned out to be sooner, rather than later. Oregon reeled off
14 straight points in four minutes to take a 22-7 lead.
Oregon State continued to misfire during this run as Richards took advantage offensively and defensively. Oregon’s 6-foot-3 center grabbed 14 first-half rebounds and finished with 18, including seven offensive boards.
“We went out there with the mindset to box out and not allow them to get as many possessions as they got off offensive rebounds the previous game,” Richards said, referring to Oregon State’s 18 offensive rebounds Wednesday night.
Oregon State had 12 offensive boards Saturday.
Richards scored 13 points. Chelsea Wagner had 11 points, seven coming on free throws. Davis finished with nine points and Kedzie Gunderson had eight.
Oregon relished its win Saturday, but acknowledged its difficult trip ahead with Stanford on Thursday and California next Saturday.
“We won’t be satisfied until we get to the (NCAA) tournament,” Davis said. “The Pac-10 is so unpredictable; we just look forward to going out there and playing.”
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