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No. 7 Oregon State women top No. 19 Miami, 75-53
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Destiny Slocum and Oregon State went into halftime with the outcome of their game against Miami still undecided.
Then the third quarter started.
Any doubt went away in a hurry.
Mikayla Pivec scored 21 points, Slocum added 20 and No. 7 Oregon State had little trouble on the way to beating No. 19 Miami 75-53 on Friday in the opening game of the Miami Thanksgiving Classic. The Beavers needed only 90 seconds of the third quarter to turn an eight-point lead into a 17-point cushion.
“I think we did a great job of coming out and putting our foot down,” said Slocum, who finished that 9-0 spurt with back-to-back 3-pointers.
Aleah Goodman had nine points and seven assists for the Beavers (6-0), who were playing their first road game of the season. Oregon State tied a season high with 12 3-pointers on 33 attempts.
Beatrice Mompremier scored 13 for Miami (4-2), which fell to 23-2 all-time in its Thanksgiving tournament. Endia Banks added 12 for the Hurricanes.
The 22-point loss margin was the second-biggest at home for Miami in the last decade.
“In preparation for this great team, I told our players that we need an ‘A’ effort,” Miami coach Katie Meier said. “A-plus would have been great. There was no way we could come with anything less, A-minus, B-plus, C. Just couldn’t. They burn you for every mistake. I didn’t see an ‘A’ effort tonight.”
Miami made six consecutive shots over a four-minute stretch of the second quarter. Problem was, the Hurricanes made only six of their other 23 shots in the game’s first 22 minutes.
They kept it close, until the Oregon State 3-point barrage started in the third quarter. Kennedy Brown opened the half with a 3 for the Beavers, Slocum followed with her two makes in a row, and the lead was up to 45-28 just like that.
Oregon State coach Scott Rueck and Meier have been friends for years, part of the reason why this matchup came together.
“I was excited for this challenge and the team was too,” Rueck said. “We knew it would take a big effort.”
BIG PICTURE
Oregon State: The win was the 499th in the career for Rueck — he’s 211-97 at Oregon State and went 288-88 in 14 seasons at Division III George Fox, where he won a national title. ... Pivec had six rebounds and six assists.
Miami: It was the first meeting between Miami and Oregon State. The Hurricanes are scheduled to go Corvallis next season to complete the home-and-home. ... Mompremier had seven rebounds, giving her exactly 900 for her college career at Miami and Baylor.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Oregon State has never been ranked higher than No. 6, reached in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons. Miami fell from No. 16 to No. 19 this week after a loss to DePaul — so the Hurricanes shouldn’t fall too far by losing to the nation’s No. 7 team.
SERIOUS SCHEDULE
Oregon State’s schedule over the next few weeks will see the Beavers rack up some miles.
The Beavers flew 4,500 miles, connecting through Minneapolis, to get to Miami for their first road games of the season. They play a home game against Hawaii on Dec. 6 and will host games in Hawaii — the fourth straight year they’ve done that — on Dec. 18 and 19, in Lahaina for the Oregon State Maui Classic.
All told, they’ll be flying roughly 15,000 miles in a span of three weeks. That’s enough to fly from Oregon to Paris, back to Oregon, and then back to Paris again.
UP NEXT
Oregon State: Faces Liberty on Saturday.
Miami: Hosts Miami of Ohio on Saturday.
