CORVALLIS — Oregon simply had no answer for Brina Chaney.
The 6-foot-5 Oregon State left-hander scored a career-high 31 points — including 15 of 15 from the foul line — to help the Beavers to a 75-61 win over the Ducks on Saturday in front of 4,763 at Gill Coliseum.
Oregon experimented with several different defenders against Chaney, with each ultimately failing to slow the Seattle-area native. Fouling the Beaver center was the Ducks’ only option in most cases, but even that didn’t work.
Chaney’s 15 free throws — without a miss — tied a Pacific-10 Conference record set by UCLA’s Maylana Martin in 1999.
“I think we gave her a lot of really good looks and a lot of great touches,” Oregon State head coach Judy Spoelstra said. “Brina just had a great work ethic in there tonight.”
Chaney said the Beavers had revenge on their minds after losing the season’s first Civil War matchup, 56-54, at McArthur Court.
“We had extra motivation (after) losing a tough one down there earlier in the season,” Chaney said. “We weren’t going to lose on our home court to the Ducks.”
Oregon State (12-9 overall, 6-6 Pac-10) opened the game with a 16-2 run and stayed in control for the remainder of the contest. Oregon (11-11, 3-9) pulled to within 10 on a three-pointer by Brandi Davis with 12 minutes remaining in the second half, but the Beavers scored 21 of the next 29 points to blow open the game.
The Ducks were held scoreless for the first four minutes and 20 seconds of the game until a layup by Andrea Bills cut the Beaver lead to 10-2.
“The first (five) minutes were just a killer for us,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith said. “We gave them a 14-point lead and even though we chipped away at it … it just takes too much out of you. That flat start is going to be the death of us and we’re going to keep learning that lesson until we get it right.”
Oregon State made shutting down Oregon’s perimeter attack a point of emphasis entering Saturday after Chelsea Wagner and Davis torched the Beavers for 31 points and seven three-pointers in the season’s first Civil War matchup.
The Beavers were successful in their defensive quest, limiting the Ducks to only eight three-point attempts and a 43 percent shooting clip for the game. Wagner was held to one three-point attempt in 14 minutes as constant pressure from Beaver guards and a lack of mobility from playing with a left-knee injury limited her involvement in the offense.
Davis finished with a team-high 13 points but connected on only 5 of 15 shots.
Beaver guards stuck with their player-to-player defensive assignments at all times to limit open three-point looks for the Ducks.
“We talked about (Wagner and Davis) all week,” Spoelstra said. “We just knew we had to stay tight. We knew that if (Oregon point guard) Corrie (Mizusawa) wanted to drive, the help wasn’t going to come from the guards anymore. The help had to come from the posts.”
A general lack of aggressiveness also contributed to the Ducks’ downfall. While Oregon State was rewarded for pounding the ball inside with 28 trips to the foul line, Oregon settled for perimeter shots and went to the charity stripe only 19 times.
The Beavers took advantage of their opportunities, calmly sinking 25 of their attempts while the Ducks cashed in on only 13.
Eleanor Haring extended her double-digit scoring streak to six games with a 12-point performance. Bills added 10 points and grabbed four rebounds.