Oregon State women’s basketball is third in the Pacific-10 Conference with a 3-1 record two weeks into conference play.
After a 15-15 finish in the 2002-2003 season, the Beavers were picked in the Pac-10 media and coaches polls to finish eighth.
But three of Oregon State’s seniors are trying to prove the coaches wrong.
Led by Leilani Estavan’s 10.7 points per game, Hollye Chapman’s 6.4 rebounds per game and Brina Chaney’s 2.5 blocks per game, the seniors have helped the Beavers to their best conference start in eight seasons.
“There’s a lot of maturity on this team,” head coach Judy Spoelstra said Tuesday. “We’re right where we want to be, right where we thought we would be.”
Right where they want to be with a 9-4 overall record, two consecutive conference Player of the Week awards — including one for Estavan — and their only conference loss to then-No. 9 Stanford.
The three starting seniors — Estavan, Chapman and Chaney — have played in all 13 games, while Estavan and Chaney have each started every game.
Estavan is Oregon State’s starting point guard. While her points-per-game average is down slightly from last year’s 12, Spoelstra said the senior from Los Angeles is playing things right.
“You want somebody who can score for you, run the offense, have a lot of basketball savvy, high basketball IQ, hustles everyday in practice and is a leader,” Spoelstra told the Daily Barometer. “All those kind of things — that’s (Estavan).”
She’s 40 assists from breaking the Oregon State all-time career assists record. She needs 63 points to become one of 13 Beavers to score 1,000-plus points in their career.
Chapman might beat her to the 1,000-plus point list, however. The senior from Cottage Grove is 45 points shy of the 1,000-point mark and averaging an identical 10.7 points per game, compared to Estavan.
“Chapman is somebody we have really tried to push scoring and shooting a lot more,” Spoelstra said.
The forward scored a career-high 355 total points in 30 games her junior season. Through 13 games this season, she and Estavan lead the team with 139 total points.
The final piece of the senior puzzle is Chaney, a Bothell, Wash., native. The center was second in the Pac-10 last season with 70 blocked shots and has 32 already this season.
“Chaney is an outstanding leader,” Spoelstra said. “She takes care of the little things off the floor for the players.”
She needs just five more blocked shots to become the all-time career leader at Oregon State, and those could come at any time. Chaney’s single-game career high — which also tied a school record — is eight in a victory against Oregon last season.
For the three, records aren’t as important as Oregon State having a successful season.
The seniors want to show that their team can run with the top of the conference, and the 3-1 start gives them something to support their opinion.
“I really believe,” Spoelstra said Tuesday, “that every Pac-10 opponent is equally as tough, and on any given day, could be beaten.”