Fields sparks No. 15 Arizona women past Oregon State 72-69

Updated Jan. 6, 2023 10:43 p.m. ET

Associated Press

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Lauren Fields scored all nine of her points in the final two-and-a-half minutes as No. 15 Arizona erased a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit to knock off Oregon State 72-69 on Friday night.

The Wildcats bounced back from their first loss in their last six games, falling 73-57 to No. 2 Stanford on Monday.

Esmery Martinez got Arizona even at 53-53 with 8:04 left, but Oregon State responded with a 12-0 run that seemingly left the Beavers in charge with under four minutes to play. Raegan Beers turned a three-point play, Bendu Yeaney and Beers had baskets and Talia von Oelhoffen hit a 3-pointer off a cross-court pass in the spurt. Yeaney hit a pull-up jumper in the lane for a 65-53 advantage with 3:57 left.

Martinez stopped the run with two free throws and Helena Pueyo followed with a steal and layup to get the Wildcats within eight.

From there, Fields, a senior transfer from Oklahoma State, found a comfortable spot on the wing and used it to drop back-to-back 3s, then scored at the basket to tie the game with 1:48 to play. Pueyo hit from beyond the arc to give Arizona its first lead of the game, 68-65 with 1:29 remaining.

Oregon State got within one with 28 seconds left when von Oelhoffen drove the baseline for a reverse layup, but Arizona came up with two clutch defensive stops to preserve the win.

Cate Reese led Arizona (13-2, 3-1 Pac 12) with 16 points and three steals. Pellington, who hit a game-winning jumper at the buzzer last year in Corvallis, and Pueyo each added 12 points.

Beers finished with a double-double to lead Oregon State (9-6, 1-3), finishing with 19 points and 10 rebounds. AJ Marotte added 17 points and von Oelhoffen scored 12.

AP women’s college basketball:

https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25