OSU women's basketball: Gardiner makes an impressive debut

The Beavers (10-7, 2-4 Pac-12 Conference) missed an opportunity to add a conference win to its tally Friday night against Washington State. The Cougars broke open a close game with an 11-0 run to start the fourth quarter and claimed a 63-56 victory.

But if Oregon State is looking for a reason to be optimistic entering this final phase of the season it isn’t hard to find. Highly regarded freshman Timea Gardiner took the floor for the first time and made a strong impression despite not having played in a game for several months.

“I think everybody got to see glimpses of what she’s capable of,” said Oregon State coach Scott Rueck. “And to her credit she came out and played aggressive and played great. First college game ever in the Pac-12 against a good Washington State team.”

Gardiner made 4 of 8 field-goal attempts and scored nine points with three rebounds and two assists. The 6-foot-3 forward showed her range when she knocked down a 3-pointer for her first points as a college player.

Gardiner played nearly 19 minutes in her debut. Rueck said he spoke with Gardiner after her first shift to see how she was feeling and she said she felt good.

He praised the way she worked through a recovery which kept her out of the team’s first 16 games.

“I’ve never had someone handle an injury as well as she has. And we’ve had people handle injuries well. I’ve never seen someone handle it the way Timea Gardiner has. Her character shined for the last three months. It’s hard, it’s hell, sitting over there watching the world go by, basically, as you’re in another world,” Rueck said. “Conditioning on your own, doing things over here when the team’s over here. Having to sit and watch, that’s really hard for anybody.”

The Beavers will host Washington (9-6, 1-4) at noon Sunday at Gill Coliseum. The Huskies have lost four straight, including a 65-58 loss at Oregon on Friday night. Oregon State will then host Oregon on Friday to wrap up their regular-season series.

Redshirt senior guard Bendu Yeaney said the team understands the situation it is in but can only focus on winning one game at a time.

“At the end of the day, we just want to win games. So, yeah, there’s obviously a timeline but at the same time we want to get better every day and win games. The only way we win games is by getting better,” Yeaney said. “Tomorrow we’ll be in the gym and figure out what we did wrong tonight and fix it so we can get a win against Washington.”

Von Oelhoffen’s mask

Sophomore guard Talia von Oelhoffen wore a clear protective mask for the first few minutes against Washington State, but then took it off for the rest of the game.

Rueck said the mask was a precaution.

“She got hit in the ASU game and then had that in practice on Tuesday when we got back together,” Rueck said.

Von Oelhoffen struggled offensively against the Cougars, going 2 of 14 from the field including 1 for 7 on 3-pointers.

Beers’ streak is broken

Oregon State freshman post Raegan Beers had recorded a double-double in five straight games before Friday night. She narrowly missed extending the streak, scoring eight points and grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds, including six offensive rebounds.

The major difference between Friday and the previous games came at the free-throw line. Beers averaged nearly eight free-throw attempts per game during that five-game stretch but shot just two free throws against the Cougars, making both.

The lack of free throws wasn’t limited to Beers. Oregon State shot 10 free throws in the game and Washington State had just two attempts from the line. This drew the attention of Rueck during his postgame comments.

“The way this game … the way it was, it was difficult at the rim. And so because of that we had to hit shots and we just didn’t shoot well enough,” Rueck said.

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