After being selected as a four-seed in the NCAA Tournament, the Oregon State women's basketball team will start its postseason journey at Gill Coliseum on Saturday as the Beavers (24-7) host 13th seeded Boise State (28-4).

After being upset by Washington in the Pac-12 Tournament, there will be plenty of motivation from the Beavers to come out firing in front of one of the best home courts in the country.

BeaversEdge.com senior writer Brenden Slaughter breaks down the Beavers' opening matchup against the Broncos and looks ahead to a potential second-round contest against Gonzaga.

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Well, it's that time. With the middle of March now here, we can officially say that March Madness has begun. By way of being selected as a four-seed in the NCAA Tournament, the No. 11 Oregon State women's basketball team will start it's postseason journey at Gill Coliseum.

After not hosting a season ago and having to travel to Tennessee for the first and second rounds, the Beavers are hosting the first two rounds for just the fourth time in school history, all of which have come post-2015...the Beavers previously hosted in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Saturday's 2:30 p.m. contest against the Broncos couldn't come any sooner for the Beavers as they will have been off for 14 days following the quarterfinal exit against Washington. After finishing 3rd in the Pac-12 with a 14-4 record, the Beavers were upended by the likes of 11th seeded Washington 68-67.

Following the out-of-left-field loss by the Beavers in the Pac-12 Tournament, OSU has had plenty of time to work out the kinks and bolster their strengths. If there's one thing that OSU has been really consistent about under Scott Rueck, it's that the Beavers seldom ever lose multiple games in a row.

Oregon State has only lost back-to-back games once since the start of the 2014-15 season, with those defeats coming to USC and UCLA on Jan. 5 and 7 of 2018.

Following a loss, the Beavers' response this season has been impressive. After falling to Notre Dame by 10 early in the season, they responded with a 100-46 victory in their next game. When Arizona State beat OSU in double-overtime in Gill early in Pac-12 play, the Beavers responded with a 86-39 wallop of UW. Following a tight-loss to Oregon in Eugene, the Beavers responded three days later with their most impressive win of the season against the Ducks at home.

The bottom line is that when the Beavers have time, and in this case, an extended amount of time to sit and reflect on a loss, they're usually good for a win the next time they step out on the court.

Boise State (28-4) will be coming into the tournament on a roll as they just wrapped up their third straight Mountain West Tournament Championship and sport a five-game win steak.

Junior guard Braydey Hodgins leads the way for the Broncos, averaging 13 points, three rebounds, and just over two assists per contest. Hodgins was named the MWC Tournament MVP for her efforts, scoring 23.3 points per game with FG/3FG/FT percentages of 61.1/42.1/94.7 over the three wins, including a tournament-record 37 points in March 11's quarterfinal win over Nevada.

For the season, Hodgins leads the Broncos with 13.4 points per game and 70 3-pointers, while shooting 46.4 percent from the field, 41.9 from 3-point range, and 82.0 from the line.

- The winner of Saturday's game between OSU-BSU will advance to face the winner of Gonzaga vs. Little Rock on Monday. Game time for Monday's contest will be announced Saturday evening. The advancing team from the second round will head to Albany, N.Y. to play in the Sweet 16.

- Oregon State and Boise State have met 12 times in program history, but have not gone head-to-head since 2000. The Beavers are 9-3 in series history, 6-1 at home, and have won the last four meetings. The Broncos last win over OSU came in 1993, when they took a 64-52 decision.

- The Beavers currently sit alongside Baylor, UConn, Rice and SFA as the only teams in the top-20 nationally in both field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense.

- Boise State is 1-6 all-time against the Beavers in Corvallis, and is 2-0 all-time against Oregon State in postseason games, winning AIAW Region IX games in 1974 and 1975.

- Boise State will be making its third-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and sixth all-time (1994, 2007, 2015, 2017-19). The Broncos are 0-5 all-time at the event.

- The Broncos capped their Mountain West Tournament Three-Peat as well as its second-straight Mountain West double on March 13, defeating Wyoming, 68-51, in the conference title game in Las Vegas.

1. Putting the Pac-12 Tournament in the rearview: If there's one thing above all else that the Beavers need to do against Boise State in the first-round, it's putting their last loss behind them. OSU was notably disappointed and upset at the way they played against Washington and they'll be looking to come out firing early. While the Broncos are a solid team and have a team capable of playing with Oregon State, the Beavers should advance in this contest if they come out and play their brand of basketball with stifling defense and a barrage of three-pointers. A season ago, the Beavers used their first-round loss to ASU in the Pac-12 Tournament to motivate and carry them all the way to the Elite Eight before falling to Louisville. While this Oregon State team is completely different in style and pace from a season ago, there's no reason they can't used what worked for them last year in preparing to play their best basketball come tournament time. The Beavers have been sitting on a painful loss for 14 days by the time Saturday comes around, my guess is that they're going to want to put it behind them efficiently and quickly.

2. Get strong bench play: If the Pac-12 Tournament was any indication, it can be a tough road for the Beavers when they're not getting points off the bench. Pac-12 Sixth Player of the Year Aleah Goodman went 0-for-10 against the Huskies, including 0-for-9 from three-point range. Between Goodman and Maddie Washington, the two Beavers combined for all of the teams' four bench points. Simply put, if the Beavers want to go deep in March, they'll need consistent production coming off the pine. Given that the Broncos' tallest player is just 6-foot-3, the Beavers could choose to go tall with Jo Grymek and bring Washington off the bench, or matchup more straight-up and start Washington. Regardless of which player starts and comes off the bench, that bench player will need to combine with Goodman for solid production to move past the Broncos.

3. Feed off the home-crowd: The NCAA women's basketball postseason is unique in the way that the top-four seed host the first two rounds and for the fourth time in five years, the Beavers will have those games in front of one of the best home-crowds in the country. While Boise State and Gonzaga fans figure to travel to Corvallis more so because of the short-distance, the Beavers should have a packed house both games. The third and final key to victory for the Beavers is to use that home-crowd to their advantage and take away any chance at victory. These high-low seed matchups sometimes get a little tense (see OSU vs Long Beach State in 2017) and it would be in the Beavers' best interest to get the crowd fired up early, build a lead, and finish it off. If OSU struggles to start, or can't get the crowd engaged early, the Broncos could stick around and make things interesting. Only 16 teams get home-court in the postseason...the Beavers need to take advantage