OSU women's basketball outlasts Colorado in double OT to move on to Pac-12 semifinals
Locked at 53-53 apiece after a frenetic comeback in regulation, No. 4 seed Oregon State women’s basketball eventually took down No. 5 Colorado in double overtime in the Pac-12 quarterfinals in Las Vegas, 85-79.
The Beavers were outscored 5-0 in the early moments of overtime, but led by Donovyn Hunter, made yet another comeback. Hunter hit back-to-back layups to help OSU take a lead with 39 seconds left and then made a drive and kick pass to the corner to Dominika Paurova with 22 seconds left to give the Beavers a 63-61 lead.
Colorado’s Jaylyn Sherrod hit a tough fallaway shot to tie the game with 10 seconds left, and a missed floater by OSU led to the game’s second overtime.
The Buffaloes again got out to a small lead before the Beavers hit some big shots late to pull away. Helped by Hunter’s nine assists, Paurova made two clutch baskets and AJ Marotte made another to push the Beavers into the conference semifinals.
Star forward Raegan Beers finished Thursday’s game with 27 points and 13 rebounds. Paurova had 13 huge points and Gardiner finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds. The Buffaloes were led by Sherrod’s 23 points, six rebounds, and seven assists.
"It wasn't looking good, but this team has done that all year," Oregon State coach Scott Rueck said. "We've had moments like this. This is a team where it's a 'why not us?' year. They play with so much heart and they play to the buzzer every night. This was the epitome of our season."
Colorado looked like a team that had a tune-up, 79-30, win over Oregon Wednesday, while Oregon State looked like a team coming off a first-round bye out of the gate.
The Buffaloes shot nearly 50% from the floor in the first half and held the Beavers to 27.8% shooting from the floor, getting out to a 17-10 lead after one. But paced by Beers, OSU made its comeback in the second quarter behind a dominant defense.
The Beavers went on a 10-2 run to end the first quarter, not allowing a Colorado-made basket over the last five minutes of the second quarter to only trail 25-22 at the break. The sophomore Beers had 16 of Oregon State’s 22 points and hauled in seven boards in the first half.
Oregon State again fell behind by double-digits in the second half but went on a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter, capped by a Talia von Oelhoffen layup, to give it a 51-50 lead with 4:29 left in the game.
Both teams’ offenses halted to a standstill from there, with Colorado hitting a shot and then splitting free throws to take a two-point lead before Timea Gardiner hit two free throws to tie the game at 53-53. That score held to the end of regulation.
The Beavers outscored the Buffs 22-16 in the overtime periods.
"It's war, it's been war all year," Beers said. "This conference is so good. It's competitive every single night, so we knew this game was going to be a fight, especially against Colorado and all they can do. So we're just glad we pulled it out in double overtime."
Oregon State will play the winner of No. 8 Cal and No. 1 Stanford in the Pac-12 semifinals Friday at 5 p.m. on Pac-12 Networks.
Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on Twitter @AlecDietz.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: OSU women's basketball beats Colorado, advances to Pac-12 semifinals
