CORVALLIS — A pinch of 72 percent shooting for 20 minutes.
A dash of 25 percent shooting by your opponent.
Outscore your opponent by 18 points in the paint.
Add an endless amount of defense to cause your opponent to score just two points in a period of more than nine minutes.
And now we have Oregon State’s perfect recipe for the second half of a basketball game in the Civil War. The finished result is a frustrated Oregon offense and an easy 16-point victory against your archrival, 67-51.
“Oregon State has done that to almost every team they have played,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith said. “There’s been teams that haven’t scored 50 points on them, so maybe we were successful.”
“Our team takes a lot of pride in that and we always have,” Oregon State head coach Judy Spoelstra said. “Defense has always been one of our mainstays.”
It began as expected. Oregon played slightly better in the first half to give the Ducks a 28-27 lead after 20 minutes.
And the statistics proved how evenly matched the rivalry was. Both teams shot 37.5 percent from the field in the first half. The Ducks and Beavers were identical on steals and similar in assists.
But after five minutes of the second half, the Beavers opened the gap, and nothing would be identical anymore.
Freshman Casey Bunn got hot and junior Brina Chaney continued her defacing of Oregon’s post players en route to a 26-3 run by the Beavers.
Before Oregon knew it, the frustration was to a boiling point, and the Ducks were trailing 61-42 with less than four minutes to go. It had been quite some time since Oregon had become so flustered.
“Their defense was a real help to our frustration,” sophomore Brandi Davis said, who led Oregon with 16 points on 4-for-6 from 3-point land. “Their defense was great, and you’ve got to give them that credit. They went out there and played with heart, and had a little bit more heart than we had on the defensive end.”
Oregon could never recover from the blow and shot 25 percent in the second half. The Beavers had it all going their way.
The Ducks couldn’t get their usual shot selection, found trouble passing the ball around the perimeter, and committed 16 turnovers on the night.
The shot clock also became a consistent problem for Oregon for most of the evening. Oregon State’s in-your-face defense caused the Ducks such frustration, they just lost track of time.
“We weren’t paying attention to it,” freshman Carolyn Ganes said. “And before you know it, the shot clock was down to nothing.”
Ganes did account for 12 points in her 30 minutes, but they were not easy to come by. Oregon’s post players suffered a rough evening as the Beavers’ 6-foot-5 Chaney tied the school record with eight blocks.
Oregon State’s defensive dominance and poised ballhandling allowed the Beavers their first win at Gill Coliseum in six years. The recipe for success came at the right time, and the Beavers ate up every minute of it.
“We weren’t going to let anyone come in and win on our home court,” Chaney said.