No. 9 Oregon State flies past Pilots 94-50

Portland, OR -- It was a blowout in the Chiles Center as the Oregon State Beavers squashed the Portland Pilots 94-50.

I have to applaud the Pilots for how much they fought in this game. Though they had home court advantage, it might as well had been a home game for the Beavers as about 75% of the fans in the Chiles Center were there in orange and black.

The outcome of this game was determined within the first five minutes of the game. Oregon State took ownership of the court within the first 3.5 minutes, going on a 9-0 run. Portland busted hard to hold Oregon State's offense, but no efforts could hold the power of this team.

Oregon State continued to kill it, going on an 18-1 run in the first quarter before the Pilots gained their first layup from Owens six minutes in. Portland's crowd was in excitement, but it did not last long until Oregon State would respond.

Sydney Weise sunk in a couple nothing but net 3-point shots, and the three-pointers kept coming with a follow-up three from Weisner. The quarter came to an end with a scoreless last 1:40, 27-8.

The Pilots began to pick up the pace defensively in the second quarter, doing a better job at holding the Beavers' dominant force. Weisner continued to dominate the court, along with Hanson and Gulich collecting points for the team.

However, the pace began to slow down for the Beavers in the last 5 minutes of the quarter, as Portland really started to shine defensively and held Oregon State to only 5 points in the remaining 5 minutes of the game until a foul on Blade.

The first half of the game came to a close with Oregon State holding a large lead, 47-16. Jamie Weisner led the team with 12 points, Hanson with 9 points and 3 rebounds, followed by Gulich with 6 points, 6 rebounds.

The third quarter came with some improvement from Portland. The Beavers began to slow down as the Pilots began to pick up, collecting 16 points right behind Oregon State's 19 points. The team received the same amount of points they made in the first half of the game in the third quarter alone. Corissa Turley collected 6 of the team's points in the quarter, and Hannah Mattson closed it out strong with a 3 point shot with 0.05 seconds remaining.

In the fourth quarter, Weisner did what she does best, flying across the court being right there wherever the ball was at on the floor. With her 3-point shots and her effective free throws, Weisner collected an easy eight points early on in the quarter.

The fouls that Portland was giving really hurt them, as Weisner collected five of those points from free throws alone. Although Oregon State allowed nine fouls, surpassing the Pilots' 8, it was the difference in the effectiveness of the shots that differed these two team. The Beavers made 23 of their 27 free throws, while the Pilots made 16 of their 24.

One thing that contributed heavily to the outcome of this game was Oregon State's defense. They stayed under the basket, collecting 30 defensive rebounds in the night, and holding the Pilots to 30% shooting.

Jamie Weisner ended the night on top with 22 points and 3 rebounds, Sydney Weise with 10 points and 5 rebounds, Breanna Brown with 12 points and Marie Gulich impressed with a 10-10 double-double.

Coach Rueck celebrated the team's victory tonight, handing it to the defense and the rhythm of the team: "I thought our D was phenomenal. It was not just one person it was everybody, and then offensively just execute the way we did right from the beginning. We rushed some things, and I thought they disrupted us a little bit but then we got in a rhythm, saw the floor better and got a lot of great looks."

Rueck continued, "I thought the intensity that we played within our first game continued tonight, and it's been 80 minutes of high-level basketball for our first two games."

In relation to the large attendance of Beaver fans in the crowd tonight, Sydney Weise couldn't be more pleased with the turnout. "It was a blast seeing all the orange in the crowd, and it was definitely a home crowd feel and so we're thankful for all the Beaver Nation fans that came out to support us tonight."

Weisner felt all the love and support as well, adding- "It was fun getting to meet some new people that have been supporting us from afar and just to show them first-hand who we are and what we're about."