It’s not like Oregon State women’s basketball is getting run out of the gym on a regular basis.
The losses are piling up, seven in a row after Friday night’s 64-59 setback to Washington in Alaska Airlines Arena. The Beavers are 11-15 overall, and 3-12 in the Pac-12, tied for 10th with California.
These are numbers this program hasn’t experienced in a decade. And yet, for some crazy reason, there’s hope.
During this seven-game slide, OSU lost by two and three points to Pac-12 co-leaders Stanford and Utah. The Beavers have lost twice in overtime. They blew a fourth-quarter lead and lost to UCLA and California. Friday night, OSU trailed by 17 with seven minutes left, but threw a scare at Washington by getting to within three with nine seconds remaining.
“I feel like this year has been a bunch of almosts,” Oregon State coach Scott Rueck said. “Almost good enough. Almost make the play. Almost make the shot. Almost get the block. And … almost doesn’t cut it.”
Oregon State is having to rely on rallies and just missing because of incomplete performances. During this seven-game losing streak, Rueck thought the Beavers put together solid 40-minute performances against Stanford and USC. But there have been too many lulls in other games, and Friday was no exception.
OSU spotted Washington the game’s first 10 points. There was a large stretch during the third quarter where the Huskies did what they wanted. What was an eight-point halftime deficit became 16 midway through the third quarter.
Yet there are other times when Oregon State is to be taken seriously. The Beavers held Washington to two points during the final 7:35 of the second quarter. In the fourth quarter, OSU had Washington’s offense in a stranglehold. The Huskies made only 2 of their final 11 shots. UW committed four shot clock violations during the final eight minutes.
“That was insane,” Rueck said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a team get four in one quarter.”
Thirty minutes of good ball isn’t enough, as Oregon State is painfully finding out these past several weeks.
“We’ve been too erratic with our effort. It’s been three out of four quarters, and that makes it pretty tough in this league,” Rueck said.
Asked what is the answer, Rueck repeated the question.
“The answer is to keep searching for combinations that work and searching for ways to help the group be the most effort on both ends,” Rueck said.
The good news is Oregon State discovered a few more offensive weapons Friday. Freshman wings Adlee Blacklock and Lily Hansford each scored 12 points, both career highs. Together, they hit four three-pointers during the first half to keep OSU’s flickering hopes alive while the rest of the offense flailed. Hansford and Blacklock scored six points each during the fourth quarter as OSU outscored UW 21-9 during the final seven minutes.
“I knew that we just needed a little bit of a spark, and I knew that I could hit those shots,” said Blacklock, who hit 5 of 7 shots during a 27-minute performance.
Hansford did all her damage from behind the arc, as she was 4 of 8 from three-point range.
“Props to my teammates. They were finding me with the ball, and I was hitting the shots,” Hansford said.
That’s why, even with a seven-game losing streak, 15 overall losses and probably the No. 10 or 11 seed in the Pac-12 tournament in two weeks, Oregon State isn’t ready to write off this season.
There are emerging players like Hansford and Blacklock. Another freshman, Raegan Beers, posted her 12th double-double of the season with 11 points and 13 rebounds. The 12 double doubles are the third highest for a freshman in Pac-12 history. Sophomore guard Talia von Oelhoffen is proven. Timea Gardiner, like Hansford and Blacklock, show promise. There are veterans like senior Bendu Yeaney.
“What can you do? We just keep grinding and you hope that, at some point, things turn your way,” Rueck said.
There’s still belief for a happy ending to this season, even if there are only three regular season games and the conference tournament remaining.
“I hope so. We are really grinding in practice. We’re learning a lot. We’re figuring out who we are as a team,” Hansford said. “Success will come eventually.”
Nick Daschel reported from Seattle
–Nick Daschel | ndaschel@oregonian.com | @nickdaschel
