Three-Pointers, Mitchell’s Double-Double Carry Oregon State Women’s Basketball Past Arizona

Naturally, Rhea and Davis led the Beavers in scoring in the half. Davis had 12 points on her four three-pointers, while Rhea was second with nine points.

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TUCSON, Ariz. - The Oregon State women’s basketball team hit on a combined eight three-pointers, including seven in the first half, and Alex Mitchell finished with her first double-double of the season in a 63-55 victory over Arizona Thursday night at the McKale Center.

Mitchell grabbed the team’s second double-double of the season, posting 15 points and a season-high 12 rebounds, just two off tying her career high of 14 achieved last season against Oregon. Of her 15 points, nine came off free throws in the second half. Overall, she was 9-for-12 from the charity stripe.

Brittney Davis paced the Beavers with five three-pointers – tying a career-high -- while Talisa Rhea connected on three of her own. For Davis, the three-pointers helped give her a team-leading 20 points, her fourth game this season having reached the 20-point plateau. The Portland native now has five straight games with double-figures in scoring.

In the process of getting her three three-pointers and 13 points overall, Rhea moved into second place in Oregon State history. She now has 116 three-pointers in less than two full seasons.

The Beavers shot 45.5 percent from the field compared to a 41.2 figure for the Wildcats. Oregon State (13-7 overall, 4-6 Pacific-10 Conference) posted 30 rebounds to Arizona’s (8-13, 1-9) 28. Mitchell easily led the Beavers with her 12, and was followed by Kirsten Tilleman, who had six, including three offensively.

Oregon State took a 31-25 lead into the second half, slowly building up that six-point margin late in the first half. Of the Beavers 31 points in the half, 21 came by the three-pointer. In fact, the last 18 points scored by the Beavers came off three-pointers by either Davis or Rhea.

That stretch started at the 6:34 mark when Davis nailed her first three-pointer of the game. It was followed by another Davis three-pointer, this one coming with 5:36 left. Rhea then broke Davis’ streak with one of her own at 4:31.

Two more Davis three-pointers – one at 2:09 and the other at 1:02 – gave the Beavers a 28-25 lead. Rhea finished off the half with her third three-pointer of the game with less than 20 seconds left.

Naturally, Rhea and Davis led the Beavers in scoring in the half. Davis had 12 points on her four three-pointers, while Rhea was second with nine points.

Arizona had a bit of a three-point streak in the first half, with one from Ashley Frazier at the 6:14 mark and two more by Courtney Clements toward the end of the half. Clements, in fact, tied for the team-lead in scoring in the first half with eight points. Ify Ibekwe also had eight points.

Clements had 15 points to pace the Wildcats, while Ibekwe had 14 and Reiko Thomas posted 12.

Oregon State wraps up its trip to Arizona when the Beavers visit Arizona State Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The game is scheduled for a 3 p.m. PT tip (4 p.m. in Arizona). Fans can catch the game live by tuning into KLOO 1340-AM in the Corvallis area with Todd Mansfield calling all the action. The game will also be live on the Internet by visiting osubeavers.com or Yahoo! Sports.

For those who have FSN Arizona, the game will be televised on a regional basis.

Oregon State Notes: The game marked the 52nd all-time meeting between the teams and the 24th in Tucson … The Beavers started a lineup of Mercedes Fox-Griffin, Tiffany Ducker, Talisa Rhea, Brittney Davis and Kirsten Tilleman for the sixth straight game … Talisa Rhea’s 114th career three-pointer came at the 8:02 mark of the first half and put her into second place all-time at Oregon State, surpassing Annette Mollerstrom … The all-time leader is Felicia Ragland, who had 178 from 1999-2002 ... The Beavers have now had two double doubles in a row after Tiffany Ducker got the team’s first of the season last week at Oregon.

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