The Oregon State Beavers had an emotional weekend. Friday night they celebrated an incredible 64-62 win over Arizona State ending a four-game losing streak to the Sun Devils. At the same time, they watched one of their talented Freshman Kennedy Brown go down with a knee injury. Her return this season is unknown. So the second key player for Scott Rueck's team is out for now. Taya Corosdale was lost earlier in the season to a hamstring injury.
Arizona was on a mission. Because they were blown out Friday night in Eugene, Adia Barnes, the coach of the Wildcats rested her starters. They were ready at Gill before 5,692 fans. The Beavers, playing short handed and coming off that Overtime win against ASU led for much of the game.....but at crunch time they ran out of gas. The scored just two points in the extra stanza and Arizona won the game 65-58.
The Beavers were ranked ninth in the country in the AP poll last week. Now they could drop out of the Top Ten for the first time this season.
Despite the Knee injury Kennedy Brown took part in the Dam Cancer ceremony after the loss donating ten inches of her hair to help cancer victims.
Here is the official game release from OSU Athletics:
The No. 9 Oregon State women's basketball team lost a hard-fought overtime matchup with No. 12 Arizona 65-58 Sunday afternoon in Corvallis, Ore.
Freshman Kennedy Brown donated her hair in a special postgame ceremony as part of the Beavers' Dam Cancer game. The hair donation continues a tradition for the Beavers that was begun by Ruth Hamblin in 2016.
"I was really proud of Kennedy for donating her hair today, keeping that tradition alive," said Oregon State head coach Scott Rueck. "I think that is an amazingly selfless thing to do. As far as the game goes, you have to give Arizona a lot of credit. They hit big shots, and made big plays. They did just enough to win the game. I was pleased with the effort – this team gave it everything they had all game long. I'm proud of the way the team played today."
Mikayla Pivec put up yet another double-double, going for 15 points and 12 rebounds, as she became the ninth player in program history with 1,500 career points.Destiny Slocum also notched a double-double with 11 points and 10 assists.
Aleah Goodman put up 10 points, while Taylor Jones tallied eight points and four rebounds. Maddie Washington made her first start of the season, going for six points and 11 rebounds.
Oregon State held Arizona to 34.9 percent shooting in the game, and led the rebounding battle 39-36.
The teams went back and forth early on, as the Beavers took a 12-9 edge into the first media timeout. Arizona went in front 19-17 as the teams headed to the second quarter.
Oregon State scored eight unanswered points early in the second to retake the lead by six. The Beavers headed to the break up 36-31. Pivec nearly completed her double-double in the first half, going for 11 points and nine rebounds in the opening 20 minutes.
The Wildcats got back within two mid-way through the third quarter, and briefly took a lead close to the end of the period before the Beavers headed to the closing frame leading 45-44.
The two teams traded punches down the stretch, with Arizona edging in front 52-50 at the final media timeout with 3:31 on the clock. Jones tied the game up with a big basket with less than 90 seconds remaining and the Beaver defense clamped down from there to force overtime.
Arizona was able to take the win by seven after the extra period.
The Beavers will hit the road next week, as they head south to take on USC on Friday.