Oregon State faced significant challenges following their remarkable 27-win season that concluded in the Elite Eight of the women’s NCAA Tournament last March. The team grappled with the loss of a major portion of their roster, including their top six scorers, and was left in a diminished Pac-12 conference due to realignment efforts. Eight players eligible to return decided to leave, leaving the Beavers and Washington State as the only remaining members of the conference.
Despite these setbacks, Oregon State (19-15) secured an entry into the NCAA Tournament once more, this time earning an automatic spot by winning the West Coast Conference (WCC) tournament. They will enter the tournament as a No. 14 seed and are set to play North Carolina (27-7) on Saturday on the opposite side of the country.
“Ecstatic” was how coach Scott Rueck described his feelings about the team’s achievement. Rueck, now in his 15th season and who once led the team to the Final Four in 2016, expressed his pride in the players for maintaining belief and remaining positive despite the challenges. “We’ve got a team worthy of being in the Big Dance,” Rueck said.
While the Pac-12 undergoes reconstruction, both Oregon State and Washington State are competing as affiliate members in the WCC. The Beavers concluded the regular season in fourth place but impressed with three consecutive wins in the tournament. Their path to the championship saw Kelsey Rees hitting a clutch shot to beat San Francisco, followed by victories over the top seed Gonzaga and Portland.
Sophomore guard Kennedie Shuler, one of the five players who returned from last season, credited their success to staying united. “We might have had a little chip on our shoulder, but we just stayed so tight, and so together,” Shuler remarked.
Joining the Beavers this season was senior guard Tiara Bolden, an Oregon native averaging 8.2 points per game, who transferred from La Salle after a stint in junior college. Bolden expressed her amazement at seeing the team’s name on the Selection Show. “I’m still jittery, still shaking just for us,” she said.
Oregon State began the season shakily, losing five of their first six contests. A four-game losing streak in January left them at 9-13 overall. Coach Rueck acknowledged that there were likely times when players questioned their potential and the effort involved.
However, since that slump in January, Oregon State has turned things around, winning 10 of their last 12 games, with the losses coming in overtime against Gonzaga and a narrow 69-66 defeat against Saint Mary’s. Rueck attributed their progress to the growth typical of an inexperienced team finding its identity over the season.
The NCAA Tournament appearance marks their ninth in the past 11 years under Rueck’s leadership, although this is the first time they enter as a double-digit seed. Last year they hosted as a No. 3 seed, a situation that has flipped for this tournament. In prior years, they held higher seedings, including No. 2 seeds in 2016 and 2017.
Coach Rueck reminisced on the challenges of past first-round matches, emphasizing that every team in the tournament is formidable. “Here we are, with an opportunity to prove it again,” Rueck said, expressing optimism about facing North Carolina. He believes in the strength and character of his team and their potential to shine in the tournament.
