Beaver Battle No. 5 Notre Dame Down to the Wire

Sunday, November 19

Corvallis, Ore.

11:00 AM

Oregon State

2-1

Notre Dame

3-0

Notre Dame

Oregon State

November 19, 2017 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

Oregon State led for the majority of the contest, but comes up just short

By: Athletic Communications

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The No. 18/19 Oregon State women's basketball team led for the majority of the game, but fell late to No. 5/6 Notre Dame 72-67 Sunday afternoon at Gill Coliseum.

The game was played before a crowd of 7,570, the largest crowd at a home Pac-12 game this season by over 3,500.

"I was so impressed by our crowd," said Oregon State head coach Scott Rueck. "What an atmosphere – they support us like no other. I'm so proud of this team. You want to play against great teams to show where you need to go, and that's what we did today. We're inexperienced in some areas and we learned some lessons because of that, but overall I thought this was just Beaver basketball. We competed like crazy and made plays – I think we showed that we've got good things ahead."

Sophomore Mikayla Pivec led the Beavers with 19 points on 7-for-13 shooting, adding eight rebounds and six assists. Sophomore Kat Tudor and junior Taylor Kalmer finished with 12 points apiece. Senior Marie Gulich went for 10 points, nine rebounds and three blocks.

Both teams shot 42 percent from the floor. Overall, the Beavers led for over 29 minutes of gametime, going in front by as many as 11. The contest marks the third time in the last five years that OSU and Notre Dame have battled down to the closing minutes.

Oregon State got off to a fast start, scoring the first eight points of the game on their way to an early 16-6 lead. The Beavers carried a 20-15 advantage into the end of the opening period.

Notre Dame cut the edge to three early in the second quarter, but the Beavers exploded with back-to-back 3-pointers from Katie McWilliams and Kalmer to bring the advantage back to nine at 26-17. Notre Dame followed that up with another run, getting back within three with four minutes to go until the break. Oregon State would continue to hold the lead from there, taking a 37-29 edge into the intermission.

The Irish came out firing in the second half, moving within two midway through the third quarter. Notre Dame would take the lead late in the period, but the Beavers responded to head to the closing frame up 52-51.

The two sides traded the lead through most of the fourth quarter, before the Irish took the win by five.

The Beavers will hit the road for the first time this season this week, when they head to Durham, N.C. for a two-game swing. Oregon State will take on North Carolina Central on Wednesday, before facing off with No. 11/12 Duke on Saturday.

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