Oregon State
Southern Utah
Women's Hoops' Defense Stymies Southern Utah
November 20, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 20, 2011
Corvallis, Ore. - The Oregon State women's basketball team's defense earned a season-high 22 steals, 12 blocked shots and forced an opponent-high 34 turnovers as the Beavers cruised to a 90-40 victory over Southern Utah on Sunday evening in Gill Coliseum.
Offensively, Oregon State used its size advantage to score 50 points in the paint, but the Beavers' defense also strongly contributed to its offense as the Beavers scored 38 points off of turnovers, 25 of those on fast breaks.
"Our defense leads to our offense, and that is when we score our best," sophomore guard Alyssa Martin said. "We get our easy transition points, and then it just opens up the court more so we have our inside-out kicks and our gaps when we drive. And those things make everything much easier."
It was a team effort as the bench was cleared in the game, as 11 players scored in the win. Three Beavers reached double-digits, once again led by senior Earlysia Marchbanks (Salem, Ore.) with 13, followed by junior Thais Pinto (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) with 11 and Martin with 10.
"We are looking for opportunities like this," head coach Scott Rueck said. "I was proud of our first group as they were able to jump out and get ahead. They allow us to go deeper into our rotation, and that's a nice thing about this team. They have all embraced our defense. Everybody is executing on that end, and that allows us on the offensive end to come, and like tonight, have everybody in double-figure minutes.
You want to get everybody reps and opportunities because everybody is working hard. Everybody deserves it. What it says for the future is just that we're going to be able to go a little bit deeper in most of the games that we play, and that's a great thing for our program. "
Oregon State (4-0) opened the game on a 14-2 run before the first media break with Marchbanks scoring her 10 first half points during that opening run, while freshman Ali Gibson (Woodbridge, Calif.) counted four of her six career-high for steals in a row to spur the run.
Southern Utah (0-3) never was able to string a run of more than three in the first half, shooting only 19.2 percent from the field, while Oregon State's shortest run was three, coming at the end of the half on junior ShaKiana Edwards-Teasley's (Lapwai, Idaho) made free throw and a Pinto layup to give Oregon State the 46-15 lead at the half.
Coming out of the break, the Thunderbirds didn't allow the Beavers to open up with their usual second half run. After a Marchbanks opening bucket, Southern Utah struck with 3-0 run to hold Oregon State scoreless for a pair of minutes. But despite a short 5-0 run by the Thunderbirds - their longest of the game - it was clear Oregon State was in control, counting 13 second half steals, five blocked shots and 21 rebounds, including nine offensive.
Edwards-Teasley led the rebounding efforts for Oregon State with a career-high 12 boards with junior Patricia Bright (Phoenix, Ariz.) contributing a near school record tying seven blocked shots.
"We have really been working on rebounding, and [ShaKiana Edwards-Teasley] set the tone for us tonight," Rueck said. "She had seven rebounds at halftime, ended with 12, and had six offensive rebounds. I actually talked to [Patricia Bright and Thais Pinto] and told them during the game to watch her - watch how she anticipates and watch the tenacity that she goes after every rebound with. She plays with a lot of toughness on the boards and that's something that we need."
Southern Utah had five players reach a team-high five points to lead the team, while Tayler Anderson chalked up a team-high eight rebounds.
The Beavers outshot the Thunderbirds 48.5 percent to 28.0 percent, while reaching the charity stripe twice as many times as Southern Utah (34-17). Additionally, Oregon State pulled down 44 boards to Southern Utah's 33.
Oregon State heads to Cheney, Wash., to face Eastern Washington next on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m.
Oregon State Notes - Freshman Ali Gibson set a new career-high for steals with six... Junior Patricia Bright blocked a career-high seven shots ... Junior ShaKiana Edwards-Teasley pulled down a career-best 12 rebounds ... Junior Sage Indendi tied her career best for blocked shots with two ... Oregon State scored 46 points in the first half, the most in a first half so far this season, while holding Southern Utah to only 15 points, the least for an opponent; Southern Utah's 40 points is the lowest amount it has scored all season ... Oregon State recorded its fourth-straight double-digit steals game with 22, a season-high ... Oregon State opens the season 4-0 for the first time since 2010-11 ... The Beavers are now 5-1 all-time against Southern Utah.
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