Oregon State advances to Pac-12 women’s title game with chance to repeat

SEATTLE – Quiet on the scoresheet the entire second half, Sydney Wiese finally found a bit of space as the final minutes ticked away.

Two key 3-pointers later, No. 6 Oregon State was on its way to the Pac-12 Tournament championship game.

“Every time they need a bucket, she knows how to find the shot that she wants,” UCLA coach Cori Close said.

Wiese’s two 3-pointers in the final 3 1/2 minutes were her first baskets of the second half, and helped lift the Beavers past No. 15 UCLA 63-53 on Saturday night.

Wiese finished with 19 points and Oregon State will play for its second straight conference tournament title on Sunday night against either Stanford or in-state rival Oregon. By reaching the final, the Beavers (29-3) avenged one of their two regular-season losses in conference play.

Wiese was terrific in the first half, scoring 11 points, but it was her shots late that finally gave Oregon State separation.

“They are coached so well. That is a team that is so hard to play against. … They have so much ability and so much talent. To beat that team takes everything you have,” Oregon State coach Scott Rueck said.

Mikayla Pivec added 15 points, and Gabriella Hanson had 12 points. But Hanson’s contribution was huge in the third quarter. Slowed by foul trouble in the first half, Hanson scored eight points in the third quarter, quieted UCLA star Jordin Canada on the defensive end and stabilized the Beavers after they were staggered by UCLA’s big second quarter.

Canada led UCLA (23-8) with 27 points, but had 17 in the first half and didn’t get enough help from others. Kennedy Burke added 11 points, but second-leading scorer Monique Billings was 3 of 14 shooting and finished with six points.

“I thought it was the third quarter when they executed and got layups, and we got mid-range jumpers and didn’t make them,” Close said.

Hanson was the biggest piece of Wiese’s supporting cast that showed up in the second half. Hanson hit a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter, while Pivec’s first 3 of the game with 39 seconds left in the third quarter gave the Beavers a 44-38 lead headed to the fourth.

Pivec scored underneath in the opening moments of the fourth to push the lead to eight. Kennedy Burke scored five straight for the Bruins to get back within five at 48-43 with 7:07 left. Both teams went scoreless for more than three minutes before Burke’s tip-in with 3:55 left pulled the Bruins within 48-45.

Wiese answered by knocking down her first shot of the second half, a 3-pointer from the wing for a six-point lead with 3:25 remaining. Billings was blocked by Marie Gulich on UCLA’s next possession and Gulich’s 15-footer at the other end for a 53-45 lead with 2:35 left.

Canada scored underneath for the Bruins, but Wiese found space off a screen and her 3 with 1:30 left put the game away.

“We have all kinds of experiences that have led us to this point,” Wiese said.

Stanford 71, Oregon 56: Erica McCall had 17 points and 15 rebounds and the Cardinals defeated the Ducks in the other semifinal.

The Cardinal, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, will face top-seeded Oregon State in the championship game on Sunday night. It will be Stanford’s 14th appearance in the tournament title game, having won 11 titles.

McCall was dominant on the interior in the second half as Oregon started to show signs of fatigue after having to play an opening-round game, then upsetting No. 11 Washington in the quarterfinals on Friday. McCall had 11 points and 11 rebounds after halftime, including five straight points midway through the fourth quarter as the Cardinal (27-5) finally pulled away.

Pac-12 freshman of the year Sabrina Ionescu and Maite Cazorla led Oregon (20-13) with 14 points.