Slocum’s 24 points, No. 10 Oregon State beats Arizona 86-64
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Oregon State coach Scott Rueck said his team took a step toward becoming a great team.
Rueck said the Beavers played a "clean" game, taking care of the basketball, taking good shots and playing defense without sending one of the premier scorers in the nation to the free throw line.
"Great teams, in my opinion, don't foul," Rueck added. "We really took a step forward that way."
Destiny Slocum had four 3-pointers and finished with 24 points as No. 10 Oregon State defeated Arizona 86-64 on Friday night.
Mikayla Pivec added 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Taya Corosdale tied a career-high with 14 points and added nine rebounds for the Beavers (15-2, 5-0 Pac-12), who won their seventh in a row.
"We're getting great looks," Slocum said.
Aari McDonald had 20 points and Cate Reese scored 18 points for the Wildcats (13-4, 3-3), who lost to a top-10 opponent for the second game in a row.
"They're a good team. They make you pay when you make mistakes," said Arizona coach Adia Barnes, who added that her team didn't execute the game plan of forcing the Beavers off the arc.
Oregon State shot 53.7 percent, including 11 for 23 on 3-pointers, compared to 46 percent from the field and 2 for 11 from long range for Arizona.
The Beavers outrebounded the Wildcats 38-23.
McDonald made a 3-pointer just before the first quarter buzzer and the Wildcats trailed 19-18.
Oregon State went on a 13-2 run to close out the second quarter, with Pivec and Maddie Washington scoring all the squad's points, for a 37-28 lead at the break.
The Beavers took control of the game with a 10-2 surge to open the third quarter, and led 47-30 after a layup by Slocum at the 6:22 mark.
BIG PICTURE
Arizona: McDonald, who sat out last season after transferring from Washington, came into the game averaging 25.6 points, tops in the Pac-12 and third in the nation. ... The Wildcats haven't been ranked since the 2004-05 season, but received poll votes this week.
Oregon State: The Beavers have won their last 10 games against Arizona. ... Oregon State leads the nation in 3-point shooting percentage at 49.6 percent.
CLOGGED LANE
Arizona didn't make enough shots to spread the defense out, Barnes said. "When you have such a dynamic point guard like Aari, everybody congests the paint. Stanford did it. Oregon State did it. Oregon is going to do it. They all have five people in the paint. They made Aari work really hard for her points," she added.
NO FREE THROWS
McDonald averages eight free throw attempts per game. She had zero on Friday. "We wanted to play in a way that makes her miss, not put her on the free throw line," Rueck said.
EXTRA FOCUS
Kat Tudor, a prolific 3-point shooter for the Beavers, injured her knee Jan. 4 and will miss the rest of the season. Rueck said that setback has given his team extra focus. "Our attention to detail over the last two weeks has been completely different. . They've done a great job taking adversity and turning it into a positive," he added.
UP NEXT
Arizona: At No. 5 Oregon on Sunday.
Oregon State: Hosts No. 19 Arizona State on Sunday.
