Oregon State Women Open Season With 73-64 Win

Oregon State stays at home Tuesday, Nov. 13 when the Beavers host Western Oregon.

Ashley Allen scored a career-high 25 points as the Oregon State women’s basketball team opened the 2007-08 season with a 73-64 victory over Cal Poly Saturday afternoon at legendary Gill Coliseum.

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Ashley Allen scored a career-high 25 points and Talisa Rhea posted 18 in her first career game as the Oregon State women’s basketball team opened the 2007-08 season with a 73-64 victory over Cal Poly Saturday afternoon at legendary Gill Coliseum.

The win marked the Beavers’ 10th straight opening-day victory.

“It’s great to get a win in our home opener,” Oregon State head coach LaVonda Wagner said. “I thought we did a nice job and closed out well.”

Allen had a big second half after starting strong in the first. She made OSU’s first five points of the game and ended the first half with nine points on 4-of-8 shooting from the floor.

In the second, she continued that hot streak, scoring 14 points, including two three-pointers. The guard ended the game 9-of-20 from the floor, connecting on four three-pointers.

Allen’s previous high was 15, achieved three times, the last coming last season against Stanford.

She also led Oregon State with nine rebounds.

Rhea, meanwhile, also showed a hot hand from beyond the three-point line, going 4-for-7. The freshman from Juneau, Alaska scored 10 points in the first half to pace the Beavers, then turned around with eight more in the second half. She also dished out three assists and registered three steals overall.

“We were able to come out and execute well,” Rhea said of her and the Beavers’ shooting. “We had a good week of practice.”

Two other Oregon State players scored in double figures.

Mercedes Fox-Griffin posted 12 points to go with four assists, while Tiffany Ducker, in her first regular season game since the 2005-06 season, was 5-of-8 from the floor for 10 points.

The Beavers ended the game shooting 45.5 percent from the floor (25-for-55) while limiting the Mustangs to 37.7 percent shooting (23-for-61).

Lisa McBride led Cal Poly with 23 points, with 17 of those points coming in the second half. She was 8-of-9 from the field. But the Beavers negated McBride’s shooting by forcing 20 Cal Poly turnovers as the Beavers registered nine steals, led by Rhea’s three.

Oregon State controlled most of the first half, taking a 35-27 lead into the locker room.

Rhea posted 10 points in the half after nailing two three-pointers in three attempts, including a final one at the 0:24 mark to put the Beavers up by eight.

The Beavers led by as much as 12 with 4:12 to play in the half, but Cal Poly managed to chip away at the lead, pulling to within five, 30-25, on a layup by Sparkle Anderson. But Ducker was good on a layup at 0:55 for a seven-point lead.

Cal Poly’s McBride answered back with another layup less than 20 seconds left to get within five again. Rhea, though, ended the half with her second three-pointer 14 seconds later to cement OSU’s eight-point lead at the half.

Allen also had nine points in the first half as the team’s starters accounted for 21 of the team’s 35 points. The Beavers connected on 13 of their 26 first-half shots (.500) while holding the Mustangs to 32.3 percent shooting (10-for-31). Cal Poly held a narrow advantage in rebounds, 21-18, and both teams committed eight turnovers.

Oregon State ran out to a 14-point lead once getting back on the floor in the first half. After Cal Poly pulled to within eight, 38-30, the Beavers went on a six-point run capped off by Allen’s second three-pointer of the game, prompting a Mustangs’ timeout at 16:47.

The Beavers eventually got out by 17 at the 3:13 mark of the second half, but the Mustangs went on a 9-3 run to end the game, with the team’s final basket coming with 24 seconds left.

Oregon State stays at home Tuesday, Nov. 13 when the Beavers host Western Oregon. Tipoff at legendary Gill Coliseum is set for 7 p.m.

Catch the game live on KLOO 1340-AM in the Corvallis area or KKAD 1550-AM in the Portland area with Todd Mansfield behind the mic.

Great seats are still available for the game, with reserved tickets being $10 and general admission is $7 for adults and $5 for children.

Source: OSU Athletics

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports