By Scott J. Adams
Sports Reporter
CORVALLIS – Mandy Close’s lay-up with 3.4 seconds left in regulation was the difference Thursday night as Oregon State rallied for a 63-61 win over Oregon.
With less than 10 seconds remaining, Close didn’t waste time driving the length of the floor following a missed shot by Oregon’s Gabrielle Richards.
“I just looked at Coach; she said ‘go,’” Close said after the game. “I’m blessed to have a coach that has enough faith in me and my team to know that we score like that without needing a timeout.”
Coach LaVonda Wagner had faith in her team, which overcame a six-point deficit in the second half. Close’s lay-up capped a 5-0 scoring run spanning the last 3:25 of the game.
“It’s a great win,” Wagner said. “I’m just really happy for my players. I’m happy for Oregon State and Corvallis. And I think the bottom line on that is we knew that they’re a good team, and we knew that they were going to attack. They were going to come out and go for it. We just said ‘hey let’s take their best hit,’ and we did.”
The Beavers’ win, in front of 3,021 at Gill Coliseum, is their second straight at home and improves their record to 3-6 in Pacific-10 Conference play (9-8 overall). Oregon (12-7 overall, 3-6 Pac-10) is still searching for its first conference win on the road.
“(We’re) obviously disappointed,” Oregon coach Bev Smith said. “You know, it was a game of runs. Obviously we had ours, weathered theirs, and I think the big difference coming down the stretch was defensive stops.”
Smith’s Ducks started the second frame with a 13-3 scoring run after trailing by six at the half. Richards scored a half dozen of her 23 points in that stretch. She grabbed 13 rebounds to complete a double-double.
Close played the entire 40 minutes, finishing with 16 points and five assists. Her teammate Kim Butler scored a game-high 26, adding two assists and a blocked shot. She played all but three minutes.
The Ducks’ Chelsea Wagner had a quieter than usual night after receiving a technical foul early in the first half. The senior from Springfield ended with eight points and two assists. She went 0 for 2 from beyond the arc and sat out most of the second half after receiving her fourth personal foul with 12:41 remaining.
The Beavers held Wagner and teammate Brandi Davis in check for most of the game. Davis, a senior from La Habra, Calif., was held to two shots in seven minutes of play. Davis sank a three-pointer for her only score of the night.
Oregon’s Cicely Oaks also made a three-pointer and ended with five points.
With only nine players suiting up Thursday, coach Wagner did not have a deep bench at her disposal, but still got production out of her reserves. Casey Nash came off the bench and grabbed 11 rebounds. She was two points short of a double-double.
Senior Anita Rivera led the Beavers in three-pointers with two and made 4 of 12 from the field. She scored 12 points and had three assists.
The two teams have two days off before facing each other again Saturday. They tip off at 1 p.m. in Eugene.
The short break offered solace for Oregon players such as Kaela Chapdelaine.
“We’re going to get in the gym and watch some tape,” Chapdelaine said. “We have a chance to correct some mistakes that we made tonight, and that is a really big positive for us.”
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