3/23/2021 basketball Edit

Oregon State Falls To South Carolina In NCAA Tournament Second Round

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

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The Oregon State women's basketball team saw its 2020-21 campaign come to a close at the Alamodome in San Antonio on Tuesday evening, falling to South Carolina 59-42 in the NCAA Tournament Second Round.

The Beavers (12-8) cruised past Florida State 83-59 in their first game of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday but faced a far stiffer challenge in the one-seed Gamecocks.

"Credit to South Carolina, they did a great job," head coach Scott Rueck said. "They were disruptive all day and closed gaps really well defensively. They turned us over during a key stretch in the second quarter and turn those into quick points. They were dominant on the boards as well. We needed shots to go down on the other end to counter and it just wasn't our day shooting the basketball."

SC came in as one of the more complete and dominant teams in the country and it showed as they harassed and disrupted the Beavers on both ends of the floor.

Whether it was their athleticism making life difficult on OSU's shooters, or their aggressiveness on the glass (50-32 advantage), the Gamecocks seemed to be a step ahead of the Beavers all night long.

Taylor Jones led the way for the Beavers, scoring 13 points and securing four rebounds while Aleah Goodman had 10 points, six assists, and four rebounds.

"It's hard to go out like that," Goodman said holding back tears. "I wish I could have been better for my team, but I'm just really proud of this group and the joy that they bring."

Scoring was problematic for OSU throughout the contest as it was a combination of bad shooting combined with a tenacious opposing defense that led to 32% shooting from the floor and 16% (3-of-19) from beyond the arc.

"There are very few teams that have the length and athleticism that South Carolina does," Rueck said. "That forces you to make good reads quickly and I felt we were just half a step slow. Against a team like this, the ball has to zip. It just never felt like the game was slow for us, and that hasn't been the case the last couple of months. Today the ball just didn't go down for us."

The Beavers opened the contest matching the Gamecocks stride for stride, trailing 14-13 after the first quarter, but then the momentum flipped as SC dominated the second period and never looked back.

The Gamecocks outscored the Beavers 16-5 in the second and held a 30-18 advantage at the break. OSU's 18 first-half points were a season-low.

SC continued its strong play out of the halftime break, erasing any hope of an Oregon State comeback by outscoring the Beavers 23-11 to lead 53-29 heading into the final period.

The disparity at the charity stripe was also a detriment to OSU's efforts, making only 3-of-6 while SC went 14-of-18.

While Oregon State's season has now come to a close, this is a year that no one will forget as it was so very memorable despite all the challenges and hardships faced along the way.

"I couldn't be more proud of this team this year. They've been an absolute joy to coach. It's a season you never wanted to end," Rueck said. "It's been a remarkable thing to be a part of. Incredible leadership, so many new faces coming together and playing our best basketball of the year, I just couldn't be more grateful."

With the season now wrapped, the attention will turn to seniors Goodman, Ellie Mack, & Jovana Subasic. All three will have the ability to return to the program due to the blanket year rule if they choose to do so, and those decisions will be happening in the coming weeks.

"I haven't put that pressure on them at all," Rueck said. "They're all welcome to come back as they're amazing culture people and amazing people to be around. Obviously, they're very talented too... we'll have those conversations soon."