Beavers hold off Bruins in semifinal

Sydney Wiese made two three-pointers in the closing minutes, her first baskets of the second half, and finished with 19 points to help No. 6 Oregon State hold off No. 15 UCLA, 63-53, in the Pac-12 semifinals Saturday night in Seattle.

Oregon State will play for its second straight conference tournament title on Sunday night against Stanford.

By reaching the final, the Beavers (29-3) avenged one of their two regular-season losses in conference play.

Wiese scored 11 points in the first half, but it was her shots late that finally gave the Beavers separation. Mikayla Pivec added 15 points and Gabriella Hanson had 12.

Jordin Canada led UCLA (23-8) with 27 points, but 17 came in the first half and she didn’t get enough help.

Kennedy Burke added 11 points, but second-leading scorer Monique Billings made only three of 14 shots and finished with six points.

While Wiese carried Oregon State through a sluggish first half, the difference was her supporting cast showing up in the second half.

Hanson scored eight points in the third quarter, including a pair of three-pointers, while Pivec’s first threepointer of the game with 39 seconds left in the third quarter gave the Beavers a 44-38 lead headed to the fourth.

The Bruins managed to cut the deficit to three, 48-45, with 3:55 left.

Wiese answered with a three-pointer, then Marie Gulich made a 15-footer as the Beavers pulled away.