Oregon State Women's Basketball Week 1: Beavers Fall to Colorado State, Take Down Northwest Nazarene
The Oregon State women finally took to the court Friday night in their regular season opener, taking on Colorado State. The Beavers struggled to find consistent scoring against the Rams, falling 65-59 to start the season 0-1. Oregon State rebounded Tuesday night, with a game against Northwest Nazarene, where they pulled off an 80-52 victory for their first win of the season.
Friday night Catarina Ferreira got the Beavers their first points of the season, with three 20 seconds into the game, but it was Colorado State who built an early lead. Early three point shots from Emma and Hannah Ronsiek gave the Rams an early cushion. Colorado State held an 23-16 lead at the end of the first quarter.
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Oregon State mounted a comeback in the second. A pair of threes from Kelsey Rees helped eat away at the CSU lead, and with 28 seconds left in the half a jumper from AJ Marotte gave the Beavers a 34-33 lead.
It took over three minutes for either team to score in the third quarter, before Sela Heide finally broke the drought with a jump shot. Colorado State then tied the game with a Marta Leimane three, and took the lead a few minutes later with a Hannah Ronsiek three. The Ronsiek sisters were unstoppable for the Beavers Friday night, Emma finished with 26 points and Hannah finished with 24.
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By the start of the fourth, the Rams had grown their lead to 12 points. The Beavers managed to close the gap, getting within 6 a couple times thanks to some sharp shooting and Kelsey Rees, but Colorado State always managed to find an open three to retake momentum. The Beavers struggled to defend the perimeter, where CSU had a size advantage, and the Rams exploited that. A final Kelsey Rees three with 11 seconds left cut the Colorado State lead to six again, and 65-59 would be the final.
Tuesday night the Beavers were back in action against Northwest Nazarene, While the Nighthawks jumped out to an early lead, it didn't take long for the Beavers to take control of the game. Kelsey Rees and Catarina Ferreira helped the Beavers build an 8 point lead by the end of the first quarter, but starting in the second the game turned into the Sela Heide show.
Northwest Nazarene just didn't have an answer for Heide. It seemed whenever the Beavers could get the ball in her hands she could take it to the post and put it in the basket. She would finish the night with 26 points. Despite that, the Nighthawks managed to keep things close for awhile, with Chloe Deharo going on a one woman run to get them within 4 at the end of the half.
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That didn't last long. The Beavers fully blew the doors off the game in the third quarter, with Heide, Kennedie Shuler and Tiara Bolden leading the charge. An 18 point run in the middle of the quarter allowed the Beavers to grow their lead from 5 to 23, and by the end of the quarter they led by 25.
Northwest Nazarene struggled to get the game any closer, and in fact struggled to keep the margin within 30. A Chloe Deharo pull up jumper in the closing seconds of the game cut the Beaver lead down to 28, with 80-52 your final score. In addition to Heide, Kelsey Rees and Tiara Bolden both broke double digits in scoring, with 16 points and 12 points respectively.
Oregon State has a pair of big games this weekend. They'll be in Tempe for the Briann January Classic. They'll take on Minnesota on Saturday, November 16th and Arizona State on Sunday, November 17th.
Having grown up in Pocatello, home of the Idaho State Bengals, John Severs is a lifelong fan of small schools that don't always deliver a lot of wins. Prior to writing for Sports Illustrated, John covered the Beavers for SB Nation's Oregon State blog Building the Dam, with a focus on baseball and women's basketball. When he's not watching college sports he spends most of his time reading, playing video games and annoying cats.