Mikayla Pivec hit a 10-foot jumper at the buzzer, lifting No. 9 Oregon State to a 64-62 victory over No. 19 Arizona State on Friday night
CORVALLIS, Ore. —
Talk about ideal timing.
On a play that Oregon State worked on in practice before Friday’s game against Arizona State, Mikayla Pivec received an inbounds pass from under the Beavers’ basket from Aleah Goodman and hit a 10-foot game-winning shot at the buzzer, lifting No. 9 Oregon State to a 64-62 victory over the 19th-ranked Sun Devils.
The Beavers (19-4, 7-4 Pac-12) trailed most of the game, but rallied from an eight-point deficit with six minutes left to snap a four-game losing streak against the Sun Devils (16-7, 6-5).
“A great win. It’s one we needed,” OSU coach Scott Rueck said. “ASU’s had our number. It took a big effort to beat ‘em.”
Pivec is accustomed to coming through in the clutch. She hit the game-winning basket in the Beavers’ 63-61 win at Arizona on January 10.
“A great way to end the game with a lot of people down the stretch making big plays and that’s the way it should be for us,” said Pivec, a 5-foot-10 senior guard who had 11 points and 11 rebounds. “I caught the ball, threw it up on target and we waited and waited, and it dropped in so it was a good feeling.”
Oregon State was trailing 62-60 after Ja’Tavia Tapley hit a 15-footer with 2.6 seconds left. But the Beavers responded.
Goodman inbounded the ball to Maddie Washington, who found Kat Tudor open under the basket on a backdoor cut for an uncontested layup with 0.4 on the clock. ASU had a turnover attempting to inbound the ball, and that set up Pivec’s game-winning field goal in the lane that bounced on the rim before dropping, setting off a prolonged on-court celebration.
Destiny Slocum led the Beavers with 20 points. Goodman added 14 points and Kennedy Brown contributed 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
Robbi Ryan led the Sun Devils with 20 points. Reilli Richardson scored 11 points and Tapley added 10 for the Sun Devils, who were missing starting point guard Kiara Russell due to a hip injury.
Arizona State, which gave Oregon State its first loss of the season with a 55-47 home victory January 12, appeared to be on the verge of a season sweep after Ryan hit back-to-back 3-pointers, extending the lead to 54-46 with 6:12 remaining.
“We had it. We’re really good at taking games, too,” Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “This is really hard for us. … We were down a starter and we should have won it.”
Goodman got the hot hand at the right time for the Beavers.
The junior guard scored eight consecutive points, and Pivec culminated a 10-0 run with a reverse layup to put Oregon State in front 56-54 with 2:45 remaining.
“Aleah was huge for us,” Slocum said. “She was hitting great shots. She’s a great shooter, stepped up and gave us confidence for the rest of the game.”
BIG PICTURE:
Arizona State: The Sun Devils will need to rebound in a hurry with a Sunday game at No. 3 Oregon. Arizona State defeated Oregon at home 72-66 on Jan. 10. … Turner Thorne said Russell likely won’t play against the Ducks.
Oregon State:. It was Pivec’s second game-winning field goal of the season. She also hit a shot in the lane in the final seconds of a 63-61 win at Arizona on January 10. … Freshman post Kennedy Brown left the game late in the first quarter with an apparent knee injury and did not return. She is second on the team in rebounds and blocked shots.
UP NEXT
Arizona will be at No. 3 Arizona on Sunday.
Oregon State will host No. 12 Arizona on Sunday.
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