On Thursday, #4 Stanford women’s basketball defeated #11 Oregon State 67-63 on the road in Corvallis. Stanford senior forward Cameron Brink went off for 25 points and 23 rebounds while junior forward Kiki Iriafen had 14 points and seven rebounds. Oregon State junior guard Talia von Oelhoffen was the top performer for the Beavers with 27 points, four rebounds, and four assists while sophomore forward Timea Gardiner had 15 points. Stanford improves to 25-4 overall and 14-3 in the Pac-12 while Oregon State falls to 22-6 overall and 11-6 in the Pac-12. Stanford now has clinched the Pac-12 regular season title outright and top seed in the conference tournament.
BOX SCORE: Stanford at Oregon State-Thursday, February 29th
“This is a great win for us,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said after the game. “I don’t think, I would say it wasn’t pretty, but it was gritty. We stayed with things, we made some big plays, and we had to make big plays and that’s what we want to be doing now. Oregon State, Scott does a great job, and we’re fortunate to come out with a win.”
Stanford got off to a strong start, leading 15-7 at the end of the 1st quarter. Cameron Brink was up to six points and nine rebounds for the Cardinal while Elena Bosgana had five points. Oregon State was missing their top player Raegan Beers and that appeared to have an impact on their play early.
Stanford would once again outscore Oregon State in the 2nd quarter, though it was only by one points (20-19). As a result it would be a 35-26 lead for Stanford at halftime. Brink was up to 13 points and 14 rebounds, already having a double-double.
At the end of the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 51-46 as Oregon State outscored them 20-16 in the quarter. The Beavers were hanging tough and had clearly settled in despite not having Beers. Brink was up to 17 points and 20 rebounds for the Cardinal. She was having a fabulous night.
The 4th quarter was tight as the game wouldn’t be decided until the closing seconds. With 5:06 to go, Stanford led 57-53 after von Oelhoffen hit a huge 3-pointer for the Beavers. She was heating up as she was up to 20 points.
“It was a heavyweight fight, it was a heavyweight fight,” VanDerveer said. “They made some big shots. We could not put the [ball] in the ocean. I mean, it just wasn’t going in. Hannah had some great looks, Brooke had a great look, we had a lot of people had some good looks and we need to knock down those shots.”
With 2:48 to go, Stanford led 62-60. This one was going down to the wire as von Oelhoffen was now up to 24 points. She was doing all she could to give her team a chance. Brink would then make a big bucket inside to make it a 64-60 lead for the Cardinal before von Oelhoffen made a step back jumper to make it 64-62 with 1:06 to go. After Brooke Demetre missed a 3-pointer for Stanford with 27 seconds left, Demetre was able to rebound her own miss. That was huge. From there, Talana Lepolo would get fouled and go to the foul line where she made both foul shots to give Stanford a 66-62 lead with 19 seconds to go. Both teams then traded free throws each going 1-2 at the foul line, making it a 67-63 victory for Stanford. The Cardinal escaped with victory in a hostile environment.
“I think we played well when we needed to, but you know, there’s always things we can fine-tune on offense and figure out,” Brink said. “I think on defense, we could be a little bit sharper, too. But they hit a lot of tough shots and that’s a credit to Timea Gardiner. She’s just a really hell of a player and Talia von Oelhoffen, she’s great, too. So, they hit tough shots.”
For Stanford, this is a significant win. Oregon State is almost a top-ten team and to beat them on the road really helps them maintain pace for a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Stanford wants that #1 seed and knows that any loss from here on out could bump them down to the #2 line. And then as mentioned earlier, they also won the league title outright, which is something that was a goal of theirs going into the season.
“I think it’s really hard to play on this court, their fanbase is amazing and they’re a high execution team,” Brink said of the Beavers. “They hit tough shots. So, we’re just really proud of us for pulling it out and yeah, not waiting until next game to clinch it.
“I told the girls just the other day, we should be really proud of the regular season. You can argue what’s harder to do. The tournament or the regular season, but I think that was one of my biggest goals for us coming into this year. So, I’m just really proud of us.”
Brink was obviously the star for the Cardinal in this one. Her numbers speak for itself. She was phenomenal. Even though the Beavers didn’t have Beers, it’s still ridiculous to put up those numbers.
“It was awesome, she rebounded really well,” VanDerveer said of Brink. “Talana made big free throws, Kiki made a big free throw down the stretch, we didn’t move the ball the way we needed to and our answer was Cam and she delivered.”
As for Oregon State, not the way they wanted this one to go, but their ranking shouldn’t suffer much if at all from this one. Especially since they didn’t have Beers. The key thing they need to do is make sure they soundly defeat Cal in their next game.
“I think she’s a great kid,” Brink said of Beers. “She’s a really good kid and she’s really amazing and she’s young. She’s a sophomore, right? So, she has a really bright career ahead of her and I told her in the line I was like I hope she gets better soon because that’s scary. You don’t want to see that happen to anybody. I hope she’s back.”
Up next for Stanford is a road game at Oregon. That will be on Saturday at 2:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks and Varsity Network radio.
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