WBB: Beavs Host Hornets For Friday Matinee
THE GAME: Oregon State hosts Sacramento State for the second consecutive year on Friday, Nov. 15 at 11:30 a.m.
TRACKING THE BEAVS: The game will be streamed live for free via Oregon State’s Pac-12 portal and air on the radio on KEJO 1240AM with Jay Reese on the call. Live stats are also available on osubeavers.com and fans can follow @OregonStateWBB on Twitter for all game day information, including score updates, photos and observations.
LISTEN ON TUNEIN: This season, every women’s basketball game will also have free live audio coverage through a partnership with TuneIn. Fans can click ‘Audio/Video’ on the top right of osubeavers.com or ‘Live Audio’ under ‘Fan Zone’ and ‘Digital Media’ to access the feed. The free live audio can also be heard on mobile devices by downloading the TuneIn Radio app. Search ‘Oregon State Beaver Sports’ to access our channel.
BEAVERS BEYOND THE CLASSROOM: On Friday, the Beavers will welcome upwards of 3,500 elementary and middle school students from around the area to Gill Coliseum for the second annual “Beavers Beyond the Classroom - Field Trip Day”. Baker Charter School, Cascades Elementary, Claggett Creek Middle School, Hallman Elementary, Independence Elementary, Lafayette Elementary, Liberty Elementary, Lifegate Christian School, Lincoln Elementary, Linus Pauling Middle School, Memorial Middle School, Monmouth Elementary, Morningside, Muddy Creek Charter School, Newport Intermediate, North Albany Elementary, Oak Elementary, Pioneer School, Queen of Peace Catholic School, Riviera Christian School, Riverview Elementary, Taft Elementary, Talmage Middle School, Victor Point Elementary, Western Mennonite School, Whitaker Middle School and Wilson School will all be represented. Among many aspects of the event, students in attendance will engage with a workbook that covers grammar, history, math, health and sports science and is integrated with timeouts during the game.
PARKING INFORMATION: Because of the unusual start time in the middle of the work day, standard parking regulations will be enforced on campus. Fans are reminded to purchase parking passes from kiosks located in the lots around Gill Coliseum and Reser Stadium. The closest free parking area is the gravel lot located adjacent to the OSU Softball Complex, the Whyte Track & Field Center and the Hilton Garden Inn.
THE RUNDOWN: Oregon State defeated Bakersfield on Friday night, 80-49 ... Deven Hunter posted her first career double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds ... Sydney Wiese has dished out 5+ assists in the season’s first two games, a first for an OSU player since 2008 ... Oregon State has won its first two games of the season by 30+ points for the second time in three years ... The Beavers’ first two games of the season were the 24th and 25th times they had held their opponent to less than 50 points in 3+ years under Scott Rueck ... Oregon State is 22-3 in those contests ... OSU is also 18-2 when holding opponents to less than 30 percent shooting under Rueck ... OSU has outrebounded its first two opponents by 22 in both games, its first +20 rebounding margin in back-to-back games since Feb. 2010 ... Alyssa Martin has 872 career points and is 128 away from becoming Oregon State’s 17th 1,000-point scorer ... Martin is also second in the Pac-12 among active players in 3-point field goals with 128, which is third all-time at Oregon State ... Ali Gibson isn’t far behind, with 98 career makes from deep, seventh in OSU history.
VERSUS THE HORNETS: Oregon State is 4-1 all-time against Sacramento State and will be looking to avenge last year’s 80-71 overtime loss in Gill Coliseum. Guard Se’Nyce Parrish scored 39 points against the Beavers in that contest to get the Hornets their first win in the series. OSU, which is averaging 87 points per game this season, last cracked 100 when it beat Sac State, 100-45, in the first game of the 2008-09 season.
LAST TIME OUT: Oregon State moved to 2-0 with another convincing win on Monday night, this time by a score of 80-49 over Bakersfield. Deven Hunter recorded her first career double-double with 13 point and 13 rebounds. Ten of the Beavers’ 11 players scored and OSU used a 16-3 run heading into halftime to pull away.
GRAND DEBUT: Sydney Wiese had one of the best freshman debuts in Oregon State history against Corban last Friday. Her 20-point barrage was the third-most for an Oregon State freshman in her first game, trailing only Alyssa Martin’s 24 from 2010 and Natalia Mattick’s 21 from 1990.
IT’S BETTER TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE: Wiese has also handed out five assists in each of her first two career games against only three turnovers. She is the first Oregon State freshman to ever have five or more assists in her first two career games. The last Beaver to dish out that many in the season’s first two contests was Mercedes Fox-Griffin as a senior in 2008-09 when she totaled five against Sacramento State (Nov. 16) and seven against Houston (Nov. 19).
DEVEN'S DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Sophomore forward Deven Hunter notched her first career double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds against Bakersfield. She is one of just three Pac-12 players averaging a double-double (10.5 ppg, 10.0 rpg) this season, along with Stanford’s Chiney Ogwumike and Oregon’s Jillian Alleyne.
OFFENSIVE FIREWORKS: Following victories over Corban (94-49) and Bakersfield (80-49), Oregon State has won its first two games of the season by 30+ points for the second time in three years. The Beavers also accomplished that feat against Western Oregon (96-32) and Montana State (83-53) in Nov. 2011, which was also the last time they posted back-to-back wins of at least 30 points.
OFFENSIVE FIREWORKS II: OSU’s 94 points against Corban were the second-most for a Rueck-coached team at Oregon State. The Beavers scored 96 against Western Oregon in the first game of the 2011-12 season. It’s also the third 90+ point game for Oregon State under Rueck, as the Beavers also dropped in 90 against Southern Utah on Nov. 20, 2011.
DRASTIC DEFENSE: Oregon State held Corban to 28.8 percent shooting and Bakersfield to 24.2 percent and has now limited its opponents to less than 30 percent from the floor 20 times under head coach Scott Rueck. The Beavers are 18-2 in those games.
YOU CAN’T WIN IF YOU DON’T SCORE: Similarly, the Beavers’ first two games of the season were also the 24th and 25th times they had held their opponent to less than 50 points in 3+ years under Rueck. Oregon State is 22-3 in those contests.
DRASTIC DEFENSE II: A great defensive coach, Scott Rueck’s 2012-13 Beavers were one of the school’s best ever at that end of the floor. Their .346 field goal percentage defense was a new OSU record, besting 2011-12’s .350, which was that year’s 18th best mark in the country. Since 2006-07, all but one of Scott Rueck’s squads has finished in the top 25 in the nation in field goal percentage defense.
NO CHANCE: The top blocking team in the Pac-12 the last three seasons, OSU swatted 10 of Bakersfield’s 62 shot attempts on Monday. Ruth Hamblin had three for the second consecutive game as Oregon State reached double digits in that category for the first time this year. A season ago, the Beavers had four games with 10+ blocks after doing it a school-record five times in 2011-12.
OWNING THE BOARDS: OSU has outrebounded its first two opponents by 22 in both games. They pulled down 52 to Corban’s 30 and 59 to Bakersfield’s 37. The Beavers hadn’t posted +20 rebounding margins in back-to-back games since Feb. 2010 when they did so against Bakersfield (+28) and Oregon (+21).
SPECIALTY STATS: Oregon State has been dominant in the paint thus far, outscoring its opponents by a combined 92 to 22 down low. The Beavers’ bench has also performed well, contributing 78 points to their opponents’ 17.
PROFICIENT FROM THE FLOOR: Beyond scoring over 90 for the first time since 2011, the Beavers also shot 52.1 percent from the floor against Corban, their best mark since shooting 54 percent against UC Davis in the 2012 WNIT. Last season, OSU shot 50 percent on two occasions, against Saint Martin’s on Dec. 9 and Washington State on Jan. 27.
NEW YEAR, NEW MARKS: After only two games, Oregon State has already topped a number of highs from last season. In addition to the points and field-goal percentage marks, OSU handed out 20 assists against Corban, its most since it tallied 25 against the same Warrior team on Dec. 16, 2011. Its 13 steals were also a total last reached against Saint Mary’s on March 17, 2012. Last season, OSU’s highs in those categories were 19 assists against Oregon on Jan. 20 and 12 steals against Western Washington on Nov. 10.
MORE FOR MARTIN: With 14 points in the season’s first two games, senior Alyssa Martin now has 872 in her career and is just 128 away from becoming Oregon State’s 17th career 1,000-point scorer. She has scored more than 220 points in each of her previous three seasons.
A LOOK AT THE LONG BALL: Alyssa Martin is also second in the Pac-12 among active players in 3-point field goals with 128, which is also third all-time at Oregon State. Ali Gibson isn’t far behind, with 98 career makes from deep, seventh in OSU history. When Gibson makes two more, Oregon State will be the only Pac-12 school with two active players that have 100 or more makes from behind the arc.
CHALLENGING SLATE: OSU, which had the 50th toughest schedule in the nation last season, could see a significant uptick in that number in 2013-14. The Beavers will be playing in the Junkanoo Jam on Grand Bahama Island in November, the team’s second consecutive international trip and fourth ever. At that tournament, OSU opens with preseason No. 15 Penn State. Oregon State will also play Creighton, a 2013 NCAA Tournament participant, at the Duel in the Desert in Las Vegas in December, before hosting its marquee non-conference game against Notre Dame in Gill Coliseum on Dec. 29. The Irish are currently ranked seventh in the country, have made three straight Final Four appearances and will be the first ACC women’s basketball team to ever come to Gill Coliseum. It is also believed to be the first time Notre Dame will come to Corvallis to play Oregon State in any sport. In facing Penn State, Creighton and Notre Dame, the Beavers will play three tournament teams from the previous season in the non-conference portion of its schedule for the second consecutive year. Before last season, that had not happened since 2002-03.
THE GAUNTLET: Oregon State played eight games last season against nationally-ranked opponents, a new school record. The Beavers previously played seven teams in the polls during the 1981-82, 1984-85, 1989-90 and 1993-94 campaigns.
HERALDED FRESHMEN: A year after landing a recruiting class ranked as high as 17th in the nation, Rueck and his staff brought in another highly-regarded group to Corvallis in Breanna Brown, Gabriella Hanson, Kolbie Orum and Sydney Wiese. Brown and Wiese are the third and fourth top-100 recruits to choose the Beavers in the last two seasons, joining Jamie Weisner and Samantha Siegner. Brown won back-to-back state titles at Bishop O’Dowd HS in Oakland, Calif.; Hanson has spent the past three summers playing for Swedish National Teams; Orum is the fifth all-time leading scorer in British Columbia prep history; and Wiese, who scored over 2,000 points in high school, is the reigning Arizona Player of the Year.
SO INTERNATIONAL: Oregon State had four student-athletes suit up for national squads at various age levels this summer. Playing for Canada, Jamie Weisner dominated competition at the FIBA U19 World Championship for Women in Lithuania in July, averaging 17.0 points on 54.5 percent shooting, 6.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists en route to making the All-Tournament Team. Ruth Hamblin was promoted to Canada’s Senior Women’s National Team for exhibition tournaments in Europe (2.3 ppg, 2.9 rpg) and China (1.6 ppg, 1.4 rpg). Gabriella Hanson led Sweden to an eighth-place finish at the FIBA U18 European Championships for Women in Croatia in August, leading her squad in rebounds (7.2), assists (2.4) and steals (2.4) per game. Ali Gibson made her international debut with the Puerto Rican National Team at an exhibition tournament in São Paulo, Brazil in mid-August.
WELCOME BACK: A couple of changes were made to Scott Rueck’s staff in the offseason, beginning with the hiring of Oregon State alumna Mandy Close as an assistant coach. Close, a four-year letterwinner from 2003-06 who led her squad to three postseason appearances, had spent the past five seasons on the coaching staff at Montana State, where the Bobcats finished with a .500 record or better each year.
CAMPBELL PROMOTED: Another coaching move was made last May in the form of Mark Campbell’s promotion to the position of associate head coach. Campbell has played an integral role in the development of the Beaver program under Rueck and has been the point person in helping Oregon State land a pair of top-notch recruiting classes the past two seasons, including four nationally-ranked, top-100 student-athletes. He arrived in Corvallis by way of St. Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif. where he served as an assistant coach for Randy Bennett and the men’s basketball program during the 2009-10 campaign, helping the Gaels reach the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history as well as tie a school record for wins in a season (28-6).