Friday, March 22
Corvallis, OR
5:00 PM
Oregon State
25-7,12-6Pac-12
73
vs
51
Eastern Washington
29-6,16-2Big Sky
1
2
3
4
F
Eastern Wash.
18
9
12
12
51
Oregon St.
15
24
17
17
73
First Round Victory Doubles as Birthday Party
March 22, 2024 | Women's Basketball
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Dominika Paurova celebrated her 19th birthday with 6,923 of her closest friends, leading no. 3-seed Oregon State to a 73-51 victory over 14th-seeded Eastern Washington in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The freshman confirmed postgame that the win, as well as the visit from her parents and sister from the Czech Republic made Friday her favorite birthday ever. Her 17-point, 3-assist, 2-steal day helped make it happen.
"They told me [that they were coming] like five days ago," Paurova said. "So I was so excited. They always supported me. So I was so happy they could come and watch me because they enjoy it a lot. I'm having a great time. And I'm excited to play in front of them one more time before they leave."
Paurova's big day came in front of a Gill Coliseum postseason record crowd of 6,923, surpassing the previous record of 6,074 set in 2016. She sparked the Beavers after a slow start where they were down 18-10 late in the first quarter.
The freshman combined with Raegan Beers and Timea Gardiner, who both scored in double figures with 19 and 12 points respectively, on an 18-2 run to ignite the record crowd. Back-to-back triples from Paurova and Gardiner sent the crowd into a frenzy as the Beavs went up 28-20.
"This was amazing. The crowd here. I've never played in front of a big crowd like this. So I was enjoying every moment of this game," Paurova said.
"I feel like Dom is the one that when we go into a drought of some sort offensively, defensively, she just shows up, and the next thing you know she's blowing by her person and taking it to the rim and giving us a layup when we need it," Beers said. "We're lucky to have her here and have her on her birthday and get a W for her today."
The Beavs pulled away in the second half in large part due to Gardiner, who led OSU with eight points in the second half. She made 3-of-4 shots from the field and grabbed three rebounds. Fellow post Kelsey Rees contributed seven points and seven rebounds in the final 20 minutes.
As a team, Oregon State shot 54.9 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from three. The Beavs held Eastern Washington to 30 percent from the floor and 22.2 percent from deep.
Oregon State battles the winner of six-seed Nebraska and 11-seed Texas A&M at Gill Coliseum on Sunday. Time and network for Sunday will be announced by ESPN following Friday's games.
OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS).
The freshman confirmed postgame that the win, as well as the visit from her parents and sister from the Czech Republic made Friday her favorite birthday ever. Her 17-point, 3-assist, 2-steal day helped make it happen.
"They told me [that they were coming] like five days ago," Paurova said. "So I was so excited. They always supported me. So I was so happy they could come and watch me because they enjoy it a lot. I'm having a great time. And I'm excited to play in front of them one more time before they leave."
Paurova's big day came in front of a Gill Coliseum postseason record crowd of 6,923, surpassing the previous record of 6,074 set in 2016. She sparked the Beavers after a slow start where they were down 18-10 late in the first quarter.
The freshman combined with Raegan Beers and Timea Gardiner, who both scored in double figures with 19 and 12 points respectively, on an 18-2 run to ignite the record crowd. Back-to-back triples from Paurova and Gardiner sent the crowd into a frenzy as the Beavs went up 28-20.
"This was amazing. The crowd here. I've never played in front of a big crowd like this. So I was enjoying every moment of this game," Paurova said.
"I feel like Dom is the one that when we go into a drought of some sort offensively, defensively, she just shows up, and the next thing you know she's blowing by her person and taking it to the rim and giving us a layup when we need it," Beers said. "We're lucky to have her here and have her on her birthday and get a W for her today."
The Beavs pulled away in the second half in large part due to Gardiner, who led OSU with eight points in the second half. She made 3-of-4 shots from the field and grabbed three rebounds. Fellow post Kelsey Rees contributed seven points and seven rebounds in the final 20 minutes.
As a team, Oregon State shot 54.9 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from three. The Beavs held Eastern Washington to 30 percent from the floor and 22.2 percent from deep.
Oregon State battles the winner of six-seed Nebraska and 11-seed Texas A&M at Gill Coliseum on Sunday. Time and network for Sunday will be announced by ESPN following Friday's games.
OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS).
Team Stats
EWU
OSU
FG%
.300
.549
3FG%
.222
.389
FT%
.600
.714
RB
26
45
TO
7
19
STL
15
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
19
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
7
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
F
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