CORVALLIS — It was shaping up to be a traditional Civil Warcontest between Oregon and Oregon State.
All it took to break that tradition was a freshman from Stayton.
Casey Bunn scored a career-high 20 points and junior BrinaChaney tied an OSU single-game record with eight blocks as theBeavers defeated Oregon, 67-51, Saturday in front of 4,572 atGill Coliseum.
The win is the Beavers’ first victory against the Ducks at Gillsince 1996. It was also just the second game since 1998 in whichthe winner came out on top by at least 15 points.
“Growing up, this is the kind of game you want to be in,” Bunnsaid. “It’s always good to beat the Ducks.”
Bunn, who came into the game averaging 5.7 points per game inPacific-10 Conference play, was the driving force behind a 20-2Oregon State run midway through the second half that lasted justunder 10 minutes.
The scoring run vaulted the Beavers to an insurmountable 55-41lead.
“It’s kind of hard to get back on defense when your offense isstruggling,” Oregon sophomore Brandi Davis said. “We werestruggling at both ends tonight.”
Struggling, perhaps, because of the play of Chaney and OregonState’s post players.
Chaney, who came into the game as the Pac-10’s leading shotblocker with 35 on the season, turned away five Oregon (6-10overall, 2-5 Pac-10) shots in the first half alone. Although sheplayed just eight minutes in the second half, she victimized theDucks for three more.
“I was just playing kind of smart, the first half especially,”Chaney said. “Really trying to slide my feet, stay in front ofthe offensive player. I knew they wanted to turn and shoot.Sometimes, they’re shooting kind of right into me, so I didn’treally have to stretch for it.”
Oregon State (9-7, 3-4) held Oregon to just 14 points in thepaint, including two in the second half.
With the Ducks’ posts neutralized by the more athletic OregonState forwards, Oregon had to turn to its outside shooting. Itwasn’t there.
“We just got a little anxious and a little bit outside of ouroffense instead of running our offense,” Oregon senior AlissaEdwards said. “We’ve got to stick to being disciplined, becausewe got away from that on offense and defense.”
The Ducks continually forced poor shots in the second half,especially during Oregon State’s run. So much, in fact, that theDucks shot just 25 percent from the field in the second half.
“We got away from running things and execution,” Oregon headcoach Bev Smith said, “because we wanted to score immediately.”
Davis led the Ducks with 16 points on the strength of three3-pointers in the second half. She was followed closely byfreshman Carolyn Ganes, who had 12, and sophomore KedzieGunderson’s 10.
After a sluggish first half, which saw both teams shoot 37.5percent from the field and a 28-27 Oregon lead, the secondstanza proved to be an up-tempo and intense frame for theBeavers.
Oregon State shot 72 percent from the field (18-of-25) andcommitted nine turnovers, compared to 12 in the first half.
After the Ducks stretched their lead to 39-35 early in thesecond half, Oregon State answered back, and at one point,scored 11 straight.
Leilani Estavan gave the Beavers their first lead of the halfwith a jumper at the 12:48 mark. Jessica Jones backed that upwith a 3-pointer two-minutes later, and from that point on,Oregon became ineffective in all parts of its game.
“They really just got us to the point where we were flustered,”Ganes said. “They were really meticulous on their offense. Theywaited for us to break down.”
The Ducks played the game with an active roster of just eightplayers. Smith said that before the game, junior guard KaylaSteen was ruled physically unable to play because of a “chronically”sore back. She had an injection earlier in the week in anattempt to alleviate the problem, but it was not enough.
Oregon must now look ahead to next week when it travels toSeattle to take on Washington at 7 p.m. Thursday, then has a 7p.m. contest against Washington State in Pullman on Saturday.
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