Oregon State beat University of Maryland at Baltimore County 88-52 Wednesday in Corvallis.
Four Beaver forwards shot 20-of-26, combining for 59 points and 25 rebounds. OSU was +36 in the paint.
Raegan Beers scored 27 points, gathered 16 rebounds, and even made 3 assists and 4 steals. Beers might be the only forward in the Pac-12 with the strength to deny Alissa Pili’s desired post position.
Until last year, 6-9 Jelena Mitrovic was the OSU forward to face the basket, making space for Beers inside. Now it’s Kelsey Rees, a Utah transfer.
I said for months that every Ute would return for 2024 following the round-of-16 run in 2023, because who’d want to leave?! Forwards Rees and McFarland didn’t want to share the reserve minutes behind Pili, and sought playing time elsewhere.
Rees is just what OSU needs to complement Beers. She made 3-of-4 3-pointers, when her best game shooting from distance last season was 1-of-2. I always liked Rees. She’ll get twice the minutes at OSU, but maybe not as many trophies.
Talia von Oelhoffen was great: 7 pts, 7 rb, 8 as, and 3 st in 22 minutes.
The University of Maryland at Baltimore County men’s team made NCAA tournament history in 2018 as a 16-seed by beating no. 1 Virginia.
For a week, everyone knew who the UMBC Retrievers were, though chessplayers have known for decades. UMBC and Texas at Dallas were the UConn and Tennessee of the chess world — UMBC made the final four of the NCAA chess championship for 12 years straight.
I don’t think I’d ever seen their WBB team. I’m sure if I had, I would’ve written the previous two paragraphs before.