Oregon State Beavers WBB: Tough competition awaits in Vancouver
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The Oregon State women’s basketball team hits the road this week for the Vancouver Showcase tournament in Vancouver B.C. With three top-25 ranked teams in the field, the ninth-ranked Beavers (3-0) are ready to face their most difficult test of the season so far.
OSU starts the tournament off with a Thanksgiving night matchup against the team they faced in the NCAA tournament with last year in Western Kentucky.
“It’s going to be an awesome experience for us,” senior guard Katie McWilliams said. “Playing Western Kentucky again… Any NCAA team that makes the tournament, that’s always going to be great competition for us.”
A win will likely bring about a matchup with #13 South Carolina.
The tournament has six teams who made last year’s NCAA tournament in the field, including the current No. One team in the nation, Notre Dame.
“Obviously there’s some great competition,” Aleah Goodman said.. “We have Western Kentucky in the first round, and depending on who we play next, could be South Carolina, and then obviously Notre Dame’s in the tournament as well so it’s going to be some great competition.”
The Beavers play three games in three days, which, as Rueck explained, is a nice test run for the Pac-12 tournament come March.
“There’s a huge benefit in operating in three games in three days, there’s nothing else during the year that does that” Rueck said.
And in this three game tournament is a catch:
“You get an extra game, that’s one of the benefits of playing tournament that has eight teams in it,” Rueck said. “There’s an exception that gives you an extra game and so the third one doesn’t count against the 11 that we get, so we get 12 preseason games.”
With the extra preseason game, OSU gains extra time to fine-tune its team before conference play.
“I think it just shows what we need to work on,” McWilliams said. “I feel like we’ll be able to draw a lot from those games—positives and negatives.”
As for the team in its current state, No. nine in the AP poll doesn’t mean the Beavers are perfect. Oregon State has had trouble turning the ball over, and getting into foul trouble early.
However they believe the little issues can be fixed with more time playing together and experience on the court.
“Overall, I think we’re doing really well,” Goodman said. “We’re moving the ball on offense great, defense is getting there—it’s looking good.”
The Beavers will face a true test of skill and determination in Vancouver this weekend.