A power outage at Oregon State University darkened Gill Coliseum, casting doubt on whether Wednesday night’s game against Northwest Nazarene would even take place. Once the lights returned and the team’s took the court, the Beavers looked dominant, taking down the Nighthawks 77-53. With the win the Beavers’ record sits at 2-1.
Perhaps due to the pregame power outage both teams were a little sluggish to start. Kendall Clark scored the first points of the game with a layup for the Nighthawks. The Beavers didn’t get their first points of the game until two minutes into the first, when Kennedie Shuler hit a layup.
Shuler powered the Beaver offense for much of the first quarter, with the seven of the team’s 19 points. The Beavers worked on getting their bigs into the game, setting up Evelini Smith, Lara Alonso-Basurto and Maria Ignatchenko, but it didn’t quite click in early in the game. Despite that, Oregon State led by six after the first quarter, 19-13
In the second Oregon State finally started playing the they’d planned to play. Evelini Smith locked in under the rim. Evelini Smith and Lara Alonso-Basurto dominated in the paint, leading to plenty of second chance points for the Beavers. Oregon State also hit their first threes of the night, one each from Katelyn Field and Lara Alonso-Basurto. The Beavers closed out the first half with a fifteen point, 38-23 lead.
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The Nighthawks never really worked their way back into the game. Kennedie Shuler was an absolute ball hawk most of the night, playing aggressive in a way Northwest Nazarene couldn’t deal with. She had six steals on the night. The Nighthawks also couldn’t answer the Beavers advantage in the post, with Smith and Alonso-Basurto maintaining control under the rim.
Midway through the third Oregon State’s Ashley Uusitalo went down with an apparent injury to her right knee. It took her sometime to leave the court, and she was unable to return to the game, although she reappeared on the Beaver bench. Uusitalo had hit a three earlier in the quarter, her only points of the night. While there hasn’t been an update yet, the Beavers may be down another player for quite some time.
After pulling out to a 58-34 lead after three quarters, the fourth was mostly about closing things out. Maggie Warpus showed up big for the Beavers in the fourth, with four points and three rebounds, continuing to help the Beavers dominate the rebounding game. Another Katelyn Field three gave the Beavers their final points of the night, putting the cap on the 77-53 win.
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A big night for a lot of Beavers, particularly several of the freshmen. Kennedie Shuler led the team with 15 points, seven assists, six steals and three rebounds. Jenna Villa had a relatively quiet night after 33 point performance against Eastern Washington, but still added twelve points, six rebounds and two assists. In her best performance as a Beaver, Evelini Smith also notched twelve points, along with eleven a rebounds and two assists. Her first double double in only her third Oregon State game.
The next test for the Beavers is a big one. They’ll be on the road for the first time this season, traveling to Tucson to take on Arizona on Sunday, November 15th.
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