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The No. 10 Oregon State women's basketball team is back in action this weekend as the Beavers (12-2, 2-0 Pac-12) hit the road for their annual trip to Los Angeles for a tilt with UCLA (9-6, 2-1) and USC (10-4, 0-3).

OSU's matchup with the Bruins is on Friday at 7pm and face USC on Sunday at 12pm -- both games on the Pac-12 Networks.

While the Beavers opened Pac-12 play with wins over against Washington State (76-69) and Washington (78-67) it came at a costly price as junior guard Kat Tudor went down with a season-ending injury against the Cougars.

The 6-foot Tudor was having a career-best season in her junior campaign, averaging 12.3 points per game on 46 percent shooting from the field and 47 percent from three while also chipping in four rebounds per game.

When the Beavers got the news Saturday night that Tudor wouldn't return this season, Rueck experienced a feeling that he's never felt during his time at OSU as Tudor marks the first player in his tenure at OSU that's been lost for the season because of injury.

"It's miserable," Rueck said. "Honestly I woke up and said, 'Did that really happen?' It was like a bad loss where you have a sick feeling and are asking yourself did that really happen? You're just absolutely sick for her. She's so fun to coach, play with, and is the ultimate competitor, so not having that is hard. I don't know what could be harder."

Redshirt sophomore point guard Destiny Slocum, who is one of Tudor's closest friends, feels that the Beavers as a team have to embrace her and continue to treasure her as a close member of the tight-knit family known as Beaver women's basketball.

"It was really rough," Slocum said. "Anytime something season-ending happens, it's hard on everyone. The only thing we can do is rise with her because we're her family. We're her closest people because her family is back home. All we can do is support her and know she's still just as much a part of this team as she was when she was on the floor."

"That's something you never want to happen to anybody, but we've been behind her and have her back," added guard Katie McWilliams. "It's a hard thing to deal with and we've talked about how the rest of us will need to step up. (Tudor) impacted the game in so many ways. Everyone needs to step up in their roles and we have to fill those roles in the way she did."

With Tudor on the shelf for the remainder of the season, the Beavers will now turn their attention to what they can control, and that's being the best they can be in her absence. Tudor spoke to the team on Sunday morning, saying that it was their time to shine and that she would be behind them every step of the way.

"It's tough news to hear, but we have to get over it because there's no time to dwell on it," Rueck said. "There's a mourning period every time you lose a teammate for a game, let alone a season. Kat gave us great words, telling us we got this. For all of us, it's getting over what we can't control and doing what we can with what we can control. Everybody has to rise."

"This is a team that is capable and when more is demanded, they're capable of giving more, and they'll need to," Rueck said.

This weekend, the Beavers will look to do something that they haven't done in recent memory... Sweep the L.A. schools on the road.

Over the past few seasons, both the Bruins and the Trojans have given the Beavers everything they can handle and more. Whether it was Oregon State's 2015-16 Final Four team, the 16-17 Sweet Sixteen squad, or even last season's overachieving Sweet Sixteen bound team, the Beavers haven't been able to pull off a sweep in L.A.

A season ago, the L.A. road trip was certainly one to forget. The Beavers were coming off a sweep of the Washington schools at home in the first week of conference play and were humbled by losses to UCLA (84-49) and USC (65-61) in what was two of their most disappointing weekend of the season in terms of execution and fundamentals as the Beavers turned the ball over a combined 48 times.

"Last year, we had a rough trip... We were run out of the gym by UCLA and against USC we lost an 18 point lead," Rueck said. "Ball security was our No. 1 issue down there and it always is. Both teams are athletic, physical, and like to play very fast."

Slocum, who's perhaps the most polished and true point-guard that Rueck has had during his time at OSU, feels that the Beavers this season do a great job of not turning the ball over and that will lead to success in two places that have been tough on the Beavers.

"We do a great job of taking care of the ball and getting the ball into our flow a lot faster," Slocum said. "We're going to go down there and play Oregon State basketball and hopefully catch a couple wins."

"I haven't won at UCLA yet," McWilliams said. "I feel like every year we've come out slow and a little scared and have been down from the start so it's been really hard to come back. I don't know what it is exactly, but we have to be ready to come out firing."

Rueck attributes the Beavers' struggles on the road against the Bruins (OSU is 1-7 in Pauley Pavilion under Rueck) to UCLA having some incredible players during that span that have come out gunning for the Beavers.

"Jordin Canada...Monique Billings... and others that they've had," Rueck said with a smile. "Three years ago we didn't have Sydney (Wiese) and we're breaking in McWilliams. Two years ago UCLA beat a conference championship team. Last year, we're breaking in a point-guard and were turning the ball over. The timing has been difficult and so have been the circumstances. We'll need a good game plan and great preparation this week to be ready."