Oregon State rode a double-double from freshman Raegan Beers and a hot third-quarter to beat upset-minded Jackson State 63-53 Saturday afternoon at Gill Coliseum.
The Beavers, trailing by five points at halftime, outscored the Tigers 19-6 during the third quarter to take control.
The 6-foot-2 Beers scored 10 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as Oregon State improved to 6-2. Beers recorded her fifth double-double, the national lead for freshmen.
Martha Pietsch scored a career high 14 points for Oregon State (6-2). Jelena Mitrovic just missed a double-double with 13 points and nine boards.
Ti’lan Boler led the Tigers (2-4) with 16 points. However, Boler was scoreless in the second half, going 0-for-6 from the floor.
Jackson State, which nearly beat LSU in last year’s NCAA tournament after winning the SWAC, has played a heavyweight schedule this season. The Tigers beat Texas Tech, and came to Corvallis off a 12-point loss at UCLA. JSU also has losses to Colorado and North Carolina.
Oregon State made its rally by finding some second-half offense. The Beavers shot just 25% during the first half, but hit 13 of 35 shots after halftime to erase a 26-21 deficit.
The Beavers never led and managed only one tie during the first half. Boler was a wrecking crew, scoring 16 of Jackson State’s first 22 points.
A three-pointer by Shalexxus Aaron with 5:43 left in the third quarter tied the game at 30. That started a run where OSU outscored the Tigers 13-2 to finish the third for a 40-32 lead.
Oregon State held the upper hand through the fourth, never leading by fewer than five points. The Beavers led by as many as 12 points, but it got a little uncomfortable when Liz Martino’s three-pointer trimmed the OSU lead to 54-49 with 1:05 remaining. But nine free throws during the final 46 seconds allowed OSU to hold on and win. The Beavers were 16 of 25 from the free throw line, but 9 of 10 down the stretch.
--Nick Daschel |
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