Oregon State vs. UCLA

As a team the Beavers recorded 34 rebounds to UCLA’s 33.

Salem-News.com Sports

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Mercedes Fox-Griffin scored 12 points along with six rebounds and four assists, but it was not enough as the Oregon State women’s basketball team lost a heartbreaker in the closing seconds to the UCLA Bruins 55-52 Thursday night at legendary Gill Coliseum.

"I thought it was a great basketball game, unfortunately we didn’t do what we needed to do to close it out and that’s been a problem for us this entire season," Beaver head coach LaVonda Wagner said. "That’s what happens with a young team. We got overly excited in the end; I give UCLA credit, they did what they needed to do and came out of here with a win."

Oregon State (10-17, 3-13 Pacific 10 Conference) was led by Fox-Griffin’s all around effort as she recorded her 11th double digit scoring game of the season and the 24th of her career on 4 of 10 shooting from the field. She also tied a team high with four assists.

Ashley Allen also recorded 12 points for the Beavers, giving her a 20th game with double digit scoring figures. Allen tied Fox-Griffin for the team lead with four assists. Julie Futch found ways to contribute as well, scoring eight points, collecting four rebounds and three steals.

Alex Mitchell gave the Beavers an inside presence with 10 points in the game, giving her a third double digit scoring game on the season. Tiffany Ducker was Oregon State’s leading rebounder with eight, four of them on the offensive glass.

"We did a nice job rebounding the basketball," Wagner added. "We did a good job of running our offense and getting something out of it until the last two minutes of the game and then we struggled to score."

The Beavers’ defense was active all game, forcing the Bruins (14-12, 9-6) into 22 turnovers. Oregon State came up with 13 steals with three each from Futch, Ducker and Mitchell.

As a team the Beavers recorded 34 rebounds to UCLA’s 33. Oregon State was much more active on the offensive boards however, collecting 13 to the Bruins eight. The Beavers also recorded 11 assists as a team.

UCLA was led by the 17 points of Lindsey Pluimer, including two three-pointers late in the game to keep the Bruins within striking distance. Tierra Henderson also reached double figures for the Bruins with 10 points on 3 of 7 shooting.

After starting the second half down 27-22, the Beavers took two and a half minutes to even up the score as Futch hit a three at the 17:30 mark to tie the game at 27.

Oregon State took its first lead of the game on a pair of Fox-Griffin free throws with 14:49 to go to take a 31-29 advantage.

The second half continued with the Beavers maintaining a slim lead, pushing their advantage to as much as seven at the 6:07 and 3:31 marks. However, the Bruins closed to within two with 1:52 left to play on a Henderson layin. UCLA tied the game with 1:00 left with two free throws by Pluimer. The Beavers took the lead back briefly with a free throw by Mitchell to take 52-51 advantage.

After Rogers hit the first free throw of a one-and-one situation to tie the game, Pluimer recovered an offensive rebound with 19 seconds left and after a Bruin timeout Henderson was fouled. She hit the front end of a one-and-one, Rogers followed up with a put-back on the offensive rebound to give the Bruins a 55-52 advantage they would protect until time expired.

The Beavers fell behind by as much as 12 in the first half before closing the gap to five at the break. Fox-Griffin led the Beavers in the first half with eight points on 3 of 6 shooting and shared the rebounding lead with Ducker, collecting three rebounds.

Oregon State concludes its home schedule for the 2007-2008 season this Saturday against USC at 7:00 PM. The game is senior night for the Beavers as the team honors Ashley Allen, their leading scorer prior to tipoff. You can also hear the game locally on KLOO (1340 AM) in the mid-Willamette Valley or follow the game Beaver Nation Online.

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