Oregon State
Cal State Northridge
Bright Leads Beavers to 83-63 Win over Matadors; Rueck Nets 300
November 17, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 17, 2011
Corvallis, Ore. – Oregon State head coach Scott Rueck chalked up his 300th career win as junior Patricia Bright (Phoenix, Ariz.) led the Oregon State women's basketball team (3-0) to an 83-63 win over Cal State Northridge (2-1) on Thursday evening in Gill Coliseum.
“I believe I came out just a little bit flat in the beginning,” Bright said. “As one of the starters, I feel like I should be more up to speed, but I feel like I picked it up. The guard play helped me a lot to be open and their driving helped a lot for me to get open shots.”
“Patricia (Bright) is a very talented player,” Rueck said. ”She is very smart basketball player, and she is blessed with great size, as well as good hands. Our guards did a great job finding her. She went 8-for-9, which shows that she can finish well. Patricia shot free throws well in the second half and put together a great game for us.”
Bright scored a best 23 points with eight rebounds and four blocked shots, while senior Earlysia Marchbanks (Salem, Ore.) notched 15 points to tally her third straight game in double-figures for points with a team-high seven assists.
Sophomore Alyssa Martin (Portland, Ore.) and freshman Ali Gibson (Woodbridge, Calif.) both reached double-digits with 13 and 12 points, respectively, with Gibson leading the team in steals with four – her third straight game.
The Matadors took the tip and scored first to take the early 2-0 lead, but the Beavers quickly strung together a pair of runs to build their lead to as many as nine at 19-10.
But Cal State Northridge regained its lead midway through the first half as Oregon State was unable to score a field goal, held to only free throws, from the second media timeout until the 6:08 mark on Gibson's three-point play to give the Beavers the lead again.
A 9-6 stretch closed the first half in favor of Oregon State as it took a 38-34 lead into the locker room at halftime.
In the same fashion as the first two games of the season, the Beavers opened up the second half on a strong run, 12-2, led by Bright by the first media break with just over three-quarters of the half left.
“Early on I thought we lost focus defensively,” Rueck said. “What I loved about the second half was how we came out and locked them up. The first 10 minutes of the second half we had a great defensive effort. The offense tends to come when the defense is working hard.”
Marchbanks, Martin and juniors Sage Indendi (Livingston, Mont.) and Mollee Schwegler (Rainier, Ore.) all knocked down three-pointers in the second half to spur the run, while the Beavers reached the line 14 times, converting on 11 of their attempts.
Despite another slowing in scoring by the Beavers late in the game, sophomore Alexis Bostick (Oakland, Calif.) knocked down her two free throws with just over 30 seconds remaining to give Oregon State the 20-point lead that would stand as final.
Cal State Northridge's Camille Mahlknecht scored a team-high 14 points with Violet Alama pulling down a game-high tying nine rebounds.
Oregon State outshot Cal State Northridge 44.8 percent to 36.1 percent – the Matadors' lowest of the season, while outrebounding 55-43 led by junior Thais Pinto's (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) nine.
Oregon State ends its opening homestand against Southern Utah on Sunday at 6:00 p.m.
Oregon State Notes – Head coach Scott Rueck recorded his 300th career win … Junior Sage Indendi earned a career-high eight rebounds … Junior Patricia Bright scored a career-high 23 points with a best four blocked shots and eight rebounds; Bright becomes the third player to reach the 20-point mark this season … Oregon State is now 2-1 all-time against Cal State Northridge … The Beavers have started off 3-0 in both seasons with Rueck as head coach, marking the third time in four years … Oregon State notched a season-high 55 rebounds
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