Oregon State is a tall order
Although the Stanford women are having another strong season, they have one deficiency that should worry them, given their next opponent.
Through Wednesday, the No. 11 Cardinal were ninth in the Pac-12 in defending the 3-pointer, allowing opponents to make 34 percent of their shots from distance.
And here comes No. 7 Oregon State, which starts launching 3s — and hitting them — as soon as the players get off the bus. The Beavers lead the nation in 3-point accuracy at 43 percent and have made at least eight in 14 of their past 18 games.
It’s a big weekend at Maples Pavilion as the third-place Cardinal (18-3, 8-2 Pac-12) take on the second-place Beavers at 6 p.m. Friday. Then firstplace and No. 3 Oregon (21-1, 10-0) comes calling at 1 p.m. Sunday after visiting Cal on Friday.
Last year, Stanford swept the Oregon schools on their home courts, beating Oregon State 60-57 and Oregon 78-65. The Beavers came into the game leading the nation in 3-point percentage but went 6-for-22 (27 percent) against Stanford.
“We’re going to have to do a good job this whole weekend defending the 3,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said. “We’ll be challenged with that. Maybe we haven’t been as aggressive as we need to be. (The Beavers’) numbers are phenomenal. Alanna (Smith) is shooting really well for us (45 percent); she’d be fourth on their team.”
Reserve guard Aleah Goodman is second in the Pac-12 at 46.6 percent. Teammates Mikayla Pivec (48.7) and out-for-theseason Kat Tudor (46.5) are well above average as well, but they don’t have enough makes to qualify for the Pac-12 leaders.
The big difference in Oregon State from last season is point guard Destiny Slocum, who had to sit a season following her transfer from Maryland. A two-time Idaho prep player of the year, she was national freshman of the year after leading the Terps to the Big Ten title and a Sweet 16 appearance.
After that season, she told the Idaho Statesman she felt like she didn’t really fit in at Maryland.
“I felt like their values on and off the floor didn’t align with mine,” Slocum said, without elaborating. “To find a place where I could do that and be happy about that and feel like I was connected in that way was really important to me.”
She leads the Beavers in scoring (16.2 points per game). Pivec (14.8) is second. OSU has made up for the loss of Marie Gulich, who led the team in scoring and rebounds and was a first-round pick in the WNBA draft by the Phoenix Mercury.
Joanna Grymek, a 6-8 senior from Poland, and Patricia Morris, a 6-7 freshman, share the post with 6-2 junior Janessa Thropay. As if that’s not enough height for one team, Andrea Aquino, a 6-9 freshman from Paraguay who went to high school in New Jersey, is redshirting.
Oregon State’s losses were to then-No.1 Notre Dame (91-81) at a Thanksgiving tournament in Vancouver, British Columbia, Texas A&M (7670) at a December tournament in Hawaii, and a 79-76 double-OT defeat to Arizona State on Jan. 20. The Beavers were tied with Notre Dame with less than four minutes left when the defending national champions put on a 14-4 run.
Long-range shooting isn’t the Beavers’ only strength, VanDerveer said. “They protect the basket really well. Destiny Slocum is a quick, attacking point guard. And they play good defense, too.”
OSU has led the Pac-12 in defensive field-goal percentage for five straight seasons and is first again this season. Historically, however, the Beavers have found tough sledding at Maples Pavilion: they were 0-29 there until a 72-69 double-overtime win in 2017.