Beavers take 1st win at Maples in 2 OTs

“I’m super proud of how we fought. We could have caved in and given up at each overtime.” Sydney Wiese, OSU guard

Oregon State head coach Scott Rueck called it “a slugfest.” Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer said it was like “a heavyweight fight.”

When the duel finally ended, there was only one undefeated team in Pac-12 play, and it’s Oregon State.

The No. 16 Beavers won at Maples Pavilion for the first time ever — after 29 losses — edging No. 10 Stanford 72-69 in double-overtime Sunday night.

Rueck said he and his players didn’t talk about their school’s long streak of futility at Maples as they prepared for the early-season matchup.

“You don’t talk about something that’s never happened before, until it happens,” he said. “I’m so proud of this group for the courage that it takes to do something that had never been done before.”

Sydney Wiese, a threetime All-Pac-12 firstteamer, iced the win with two free throws with five seconds left in the second overtime. The smooth left-hander scored a game-high 26 points.

“It’s an emotion you can’t put into words,” she said of the longawaited win. “I’m super proud of how we fought. We could have caved in and given up at each overtime. There was no doubt in our minds that we could win this game tonight.”

Erica McCall, Stanford’s leading scorer, struggled through a scoreless first half before finally catching fire. She scored 12 points in the second half, 10 in the first overtime and three in the second to finish with 25 points. She also had 12 rebounds.

During the streak, most of Stanford’s wins were blowouts. But the Beavers have made great strides under Rueck, now in his seventh year. They’ve won the Pac-12 title the past two years, sharing it with Washington last season, when both teams reached the NCAA Final Four.

The Beavers ran their record to 15-1 overall and 4-0 in the conference with their 11th straight win. The Cardinal are 13-3 and 3-1.

Wiese hit 5 of 9 threepoint shots, extending her Pac-12 record for career threes to 314. “And we had people all over her,” VanDerveer said.

Thanks mainly to the tough defenses, neither team shot well: Oregon State 38 percent, Stanford 33 percent.

“It felt like we had to win it five times,” Rueck said. “That’s a huge testament to them. They play like champions, and they expect to win every game here, just like we do at home.”

A layup by Stanford’s Brittany McPhee tied it at 51-51 with nine seconds left in regulation. She was fouled on the play but missed the freethrow attempt that could have won it. A layup by McCall with five seconds left in the first overtime tied it 63-63.

In the second overtime, OSU built a sixpoint lead on a basket by freshman Mikayla Pivec and Wiese’s final three. Stanford’s McCall sank a three, and freshman Nadia Fingall (10 points) scored a basket, but the Beavers prevailed.

Breanna Brown, a Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland alum, had 13 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks for Oregon State.

Stanford, usually a strong three-point shooting team, was 4-for-9. Long-range deadeye Karlie Samuelson didn’t get off a single try from beyond the arc and had just five points.