Utes run into Beavers buzzsaw as No. 25 Oregon State rolls past No. 16 Utah
No. 25 Oregon State took the fight to the No. 16 Utah women’s basketball team on Sunday afternoon at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Oregon.
The result? A dominant 91-66 win for the Beavers, snapping the Utes’ winning streak at four games.
Oregon State beat Utah at its own game, using excellent passing to find the open shooter time and again, as the Beavers shot 69.4% from the field, including 13 of 20 from 3-point range.
That helped the Beavers build as much as a 38-point lead in easily downing Utah, which had beaten No. 6 USC and No. 2 UCLA the previous weekend.
There were some familiar faces leading the way for Oregon State.
Former Ute Kelsey Rees, who spent three seasons in Salt Lake City, scored 15 points, tying her career high with three 3-pointers. She also had six rebounds and four blocks.
Timea Gardiner, who prepped at Fremont High, added a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
The Beavers were led by star forward Raegan Beers, who scored 20 points and made all eight of her field-goal attempts while adding three blocks, two rebounds and a steal.
Oregon State had five players score in double-figures while getting 30 points from the bench.
The Beavers shot 75% from the field in the first half, taking a 49-32 lead into intermission as part of their highest-scoring first half of the season.
Key takeaways
Top performers: Raegan Beers led five Oregon State players in double-figures, scoring 20 points on 8 of 8 shooting from the field, while adding three blocks, two rebounds and a steal.
Former Ute Kelsey Rees had 15 points, six rebounds and four blocks, while Fremont High product Timea Gardiner put up a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Alissa Pili scored a game-high 28 points and had two rebounds and two assists in the loss.
Shooting: The Beavers had a phenomenal shooting day, making 69.4% of their shots from the field, 10% higher than their previous top shooting day of the season.
Utah, meanwhile, shot 39.7% from the field.
Key stretch: Utah, which only led for 23 seconds early, cut the Oregon State lead to seven at 34-27 with an 8-0 run midway through the second quarter.
The Beavers, though, responded with a 12-2 run to re-assert their dominance and took off from there, leading by as many as 38 points.
Oregon State (17-3, 6-3 Pac-12) pushed its shooting percentage to as high as 79% before missing its final six shots from the field.
Utah (15-6, 5-4 Pac-12), meanwhile, wrapped up the first half of conference play with its most lopsided loss of the year.
The Utes only led for 23 seconds early in the contest and briefly appeared to make it a game after using an 8-0 run to cut the Oregon State lead to 34-27 midway through the second quarter.
The Beavers, though, responded with a 12-2 run of their own — one of several long scoring spurts for hometown Oregon State — to effectively put the game away early.
The Beavers’ top quarter then came in the third, as they outscored Utah 29-10 and shot 80% from the floor.
Alissa Pili scored a game-high 28 points in the losing effort, though it took a high volume of shots — she was 13 of 28 — for the normally much more efficient shooter.
Utah ended up shooting 39.7% and 9 of 33 from 3-point range — part of those struggles can be attributed to Oregon State recording a season-high nine blocks.
Maty Wilke (11 points) and Dasia Young (10) also scored in double-figures for Utah.
The Beavers, however, held two other Utah top performers, Jenna Johnson and Kennady McQueen, in check. Johnson had 3 points and one rebound, while McQueen was held scoreless and had seven rebounds.
What’s next
The Utes will stay on the road with a two-game road trip at Washington next Friday and at Washington State next Sunday.
The Huskies and Cougars both pulled off upsets of top 25 teams Sunday — Washington beat USC and Washington State topped UCLA.
Utah and Oregon State will then play again in 12 days, with the Utes hosting the Beavers on Feb. 9.
