Oregon State Survives Double OT Scare at Arizona: What it Means

Photo by Jacob Lagmay

Oregon State won its regular season finale against the Arizona Wildcats 65-60 in double overtime in Tucson. Mikayla Pivec was atop the scoring column with 21 points while also grabbing 14 rebounds to secure her third double-double in her last five games. Joanna Grymek gave the Beavers 14 points and led the way on the defensive end with 5 blocks including two big ones in the second overtime.

With the win, the Beavers finish the regular season 24-6 (14-4 Pac 12) and have locked up the number three seed in the Pac 12 tournament next week. After the first round bye, the Beavers will play the winner of Utah vs. Washington on Friday, March, 8 at 8 PM. Oregon state beat Utah at home on Feb., 3, 71-63 and have beaten Washington twice 78-67, in Corvallis and 86-39, in Seattle.

According to ESPN's Charlie Creme, the Beavers are a virtual lock at a number three seed in the NCAA tournament unless they find a way to win the Pac 12 Tournament, and even then it's still no lock that they increase to the two-line.

So what does the Pac 12 tournament really mean to the Beavers next week? Well, they are coming off two pretty lack luster performances against the Arizona school's, so it will give them a chance to gain some confidence with better performances heading into the NCAA Tournament.

I like Oregon State's chances in the Utah/Washington match-up in the second round, but the semi final meeting with (probably) Stanford, would let the Beavers try to make up for one of their worst performances of the season, a 44-61 blowout at Stanford on Feb., 8. That game will really show if the Beavers are ready to try and reach the Elite 8 for the second straight year, but until then, we'll have to see how Scott Rueck prepares the team.