CORVALLIS, Ore. - The West Coast Conference becomes even more of a traffic jam after Saturday afternoon's blowout defeat to Oregon State as spots 4-7 are all separated by just one game. Saint Mary's made the trek back to Corvallis for the first time since 2018 but will look to forget this one in a hurry as they fell 80-45 to Oregon State. The Beavers imposed their size and strength in the interior all afternoon, outscoring the Gaels .
Saint Mary's held Oregon State to just 20% from the perimeter in the first quarter and found themselves down ten, but the Beavers started to hammer the paint almost exclusively in the second to build a 20-point lead at the half.
FIRST HALF SMC 15-35 OSU
Early turnovers were an issue again for Saint Mary's and Oregon State took advantage, starting the game on a 12-2 run. The Beavers cashed in on a pair of early three's but started to attack the paint and impose their size and strength down low.
Mauriana Hashemian-Orr and
Jada Hunter came off the bench and provided a nice spark defensively for the Gaels, bringing a little more juice and enthusiasm on the defensive side of the ball.
After stringing together some stops, the Gaels brought the game back to single digits but OSU would go the length of the floor and convert a layup as time expired to push their lead back to ten. The Gaels started to solve the Beavers zone defense and began generating high percentage looks in the paint and on the baselines, but the ball just wasn't falling their way.
Saint Mary's finished just 7-of-24 from the field in the first half and after settling for some three pointers in the opening quarter, Oregon State started to attack the paint and shot 47% from the field to push their lead to 20 at the half. They outscored the Gaels 20-10 in the paint and were +7 on the glass to take a 35-15 lead into the break.
FINAL SMC 80-45 OSU
The Beavers barely sniffed the three-point line in the third quarter and stuck to their bread and butter. Like the Gaels, OSU put together their best scoring quarter of the game finishing 62% from the field and 6-of-7 from the free throw line. Saint Mary's caught fire from beyond the arc and hit four three pointers in the quarter but couldn't get a stop.
Mauriana Hashemian-Orr,
Maia Jones and
Amy Kurkowski accounted for their four three's in the quarter.
Oregon State led by 24 heading into the fourth and continued to break things open, outscoring the Gaels 22-1 in the final ten minutes.
Nadia Bernard got some run for Saint Mary's and finished 2-of-4 from the field off the bench.
Sasha Murphy also made her 15th appearance of the season and hit an elbow jumper for her first basket since January 11th against Pacific.
The Beavers only turned the ball over five times in the afternoon and outscored the Gaels 42-18 in the paint. Oregon State did a great job of getting their big's deep in the paint and forcing Saint Mary's to defend under their own basket. 45 points for Saint Mary's was their lowest point total since November 30th when they put up 41 against UC Riverside and just the third time they finished under the 50-point mark this season.
Kurkowski finished with eight points and a pair of three pointers to lead all starters.
Jada Hunter and
Abigail Shoff combined for eight points off the bench while
Nadia Bernard matched her season high with four points on 2-of-4 shooting. Despite the defeat Saint Mary's still has everything to play for in the final three weeks of the regular season. They will continue to fight for a top-four finish in order to secure the first round bye in the conference tournament next month.
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's falls to 11-10 overall and 7-5 in conference play, sitting in a three-way tie for fourth place. The Gaels will return to Moraga to host the conference's top team in Gonzaga on Thursday, February 6th at 6:30 PM. Get your tickets online at smcgaels.com/tickets and you can stream the game live on ESPN+.
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