The Barometer Online

Issue date: 3/9/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jeff Wick Senior Tiffany Ducker secures the ball against USC on Thursday. Ducker was one of three Beavers who were honored on senior night.

The Oregon State women's basketball team celebrated senior night and finished out the season with a bang on Saturday night at Gill Coliseum as they defeated the UCLA Bruins 61-58.

"The first thing I would like to do is congratulate my team," head coach LaVonda Wagner said. "That was an outstanding team win. It is a tremendous close to the regular season - tremendous close to the careers at Gill Coliseum for our seniors. I would also like to thank the community for coming out and cheering for us. It made a big difference having all those people in the stands [2,648] and being our sixth man."

Saturday's game improved the Beavers season record to 19-10, 9-9 in the Pac-10, securing them the No. 5 seed in the Pac-10 tournament that begins March 12. UCLA will finish out their regular season 18-11, 9-9 Pac-10, going into post-season play as the No. 4 seed in the conference. Oregon State finished in a three-way tie with UCLA and USC for fourth place in the conference. The 2008-09 season marks the most victories since the 2002 season.

"Finally we are all connecting and we have all bought into Coach's vision," senior guard Mercedes Fox-Griffin said. "We all have one goal and that's what we have been trying for all year, and it has shown."

Saturday not only marked the final game of the regular season, but also the last game seniors center Tiffany Ducker, guard Brittney Davis and Fox-Griffin will play at Gill.

"It means at lot that the fans are behind us, and I know our team wanted it for us and we wanted it for ourselves and it was just a great feeling to beat UCLA because we lost there, but it's an exciting time," Davis said. "It's also sad because it's our last home game here at Gill."

The Beavers took a 7-6 lead against the Bruins with 16:13 left in the first half, and led 36-27 at halftime before holding off the Bruins the rest of the game to score the victory.

Davis fouled out of the game with 1:30 to go and finished with a total of 14 points, five assists and was 3-6 from beyond the arc. Fox-Griffin also had a strong finish to the regular season, taking home 10 points, five assists and was 8-8 from the charity stripe. Ducker brought down three rebounds and seven points.

Continued...

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