The Barometer Online

Issue date: 3/5/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Curtis Barnard Senior guard Mercedes Fox-Griffin takes a jumper in Oregon State's win over Oregon. Fox-Griffin is one of three seniors who will be honored Saturday night.

As winter term slowly winds down and finals are just around the corner, the Oregon State women's basketball team gets ready to close up the regular season as USC and UCLA will meet up with them this weekend at Gill Coliseum.

Coming off two strong wins last week against UC Santa Barbara and Oregon, the Beavers (17-10, 7-9 Pac-10) can only hope they have a better shot this time against the two southern California schools this weekend.

Earlier this season, the Beavers began and now they will end the 2008-09 season playing the USC Women of Troy (14-13, 8-8 Pac-10) and the UCLA Bruins (17-10, 8-8 Pac-10). The first time around with USC, sophomore guard Talisa Rhea scored 17 points and Alex Mitchell finished with 14, but it was not enough to take the win away from USC on their home court as the Beavers fell 78-54 to the Women of Troy.

The UCLA game didn't fare much better for OSU as the Beavers were defeated 60-53 at Pauley Pavillion.

"The main thing in both these teams is we have to be able to not turn the ball over," head coach LaVonda Wagner said. "It was our first Pac-10 weekend against these two teams and we had something like 50 turnovers combined against both of them. That's 50 possessions that we weren't allowed to score on. And we were out rebounded by both these schools."

The Beavers are averaging 16.9 turnovers per game in opposition to the opponent who's been averaging 18.9.

"We've been through a tremendous amount of games since we played them last and we're a better team," Wagner said. "I think the biggest thing for us is that we understand that we've got to get something out of possessions and that we just don't turn the ball over and not be able to score at the rim."

Senior guard Brittney Davis is averaging 14.1 points per game, Rhea with 13.9, and Mitchell with 11.2. Davis is also 82.5 percent from the stripe. The Beavers have 236 steals on the season.

"We've got to be able to limit our turnovers, we've got to really control the boards and we've got to be able to get some stops," Wagner said. "They are both phenomenal teams. The main thing is we've got to be poised under pressure."

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools