Beavers game, but Brink’s truck carries Stanford to victory

Timea Gardiner scored 15 points and went toe-to-toe with Stanford’s Cameron Brink through much of the game (courtesy Dominic Cusimano)

CORVALLIS — No Raegan Beers. Too much Cameron Brink.

Through Oregon State’s lens, that’s how it appeared Thursday night at Gill Coliseum.

Brink posted Wilt Chamberlain numbers in leading fourth-ranked Stanford to a 67-63 win over the No. 11 Beavers.

The 6-4 senior from Beaverton’s Mountainside High — first-team All-American last season and projected to be taken No. 2 behind Caitlin Clark in the 2024 WNBA draft — scored 25 points and grabbed a career-high 23 rebounds to carry Stanford (25-4 overall, 14-3 in Pac-12 play) on a night when neither team was hitting shots.

“Cam played great,” Oregon State coach Scott Rueck said. “You don’t put up numbers like that without playing great. She is a big-time talent on both ends of the floor. She had a huge impact on the game.”

The loss drops Oregon State (22-6, 11-6) from a tie for second place in the conference into a tie with Utah and Colorado for fourth. If the Beavers beat California on Saturday at Gill, they will clinch one of the four first-round byes in the Pac-12 Tournament, to be held next week in Las Vegas.

A raucous crowd announced at 7,867 (it sure looked bigger than that) rocked and rumbled and roared and pushed the home team to the brink (sorry, had to use it) of its first victory over Stanford since 2017, but Brink simply wouldn’t allow it. The splendid splinter had eight of Stanford’s 19 offensive boards and led the Cardinal to the 47-31 rebound advantage that proved the difference.

Brink also committed eight turnovers and four offensive fouls, fouling out in the closing seconds. Credit for those numbers goes primarily to OSU sophomore Timea Gardiner, who had the game of her career in the absence of Beers, the Beavers’ prize 6-4 sophomore who has missed the past four games while in concussion protocol.

(After the game, I asked Rueck when Beers was expected to return to action. “We’re hoping Saturday against Cal,” the OSU coach said, adding that last year’s Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and Sixth Player of the Year has practiced “some” this week.)

On Thursday, Gardiner scored 15 points, but her biggest contribution came in battling Brink on the block. The 6-3 Ogden, Utah, native blocked two of Brink’s shots, drew a couple of charges and bodied up against her for position for nearly 38 minutes.

“Cam and Kiki (Iriafen) are both great in the post,” Gardiner said. “I knew coming in I’d have to be on my ‘A’ game defensively.”

Rueck thought the intensity of the competition “was (like) a tournament game, a big-time battle from the jump. … it felt like a game in March and April.”

Maybe, but the shooting felt like a game in early November.

Oregon State started 1 for 11 from the field and was 3 for 19 in the first quarter. Fortunately for the Beavers, Stanford wasn’t much better and led only 15-7 at the first break.

For the game, the Beavers wound up shooting .391 from the field and .276 (8 for 29) from 3-point range. The Cardinal were a tad better from the field (.406) but made only 4 of 16 3-point attempts.

I’m afraid I put a jinx on Oregon State’s freshman guard, Donovyn Hunter, with a feature story on Wednesday. She missed her first six shots from the field and finished 1 for 8 and with three points in 26 minutes. Sharpshooter Lily Hansford was 1 for 6, and 0 for 3 from the 3-point line.

Only four players in the game scored in double figures. Iriafen scored two points on 1-for-7 shooting in the first half but finished with 14 points to go with seven rebounds.

Besides Gardiner, the only Beaver who was on her offensive game was Talia von Oelhoffen — and she was money as Oregon State rallied from an 11-point third-quarter deficit.

Talia von Oelhoffen had a terrific game with 27 points — 10 in the final period (courtesy Dominic Cusimano)

The junior guard scored 27 points, sinking 11 of 20 shots from the field, and kept her team alive to the end with several big buckets down the stretch and 10 points in the fourth quarter.

“We knew they had really good bigs, and us guards were going to have to step up and hit shots over the top,” von Oelhoffen said. “I was ready to come in and knock them down.”

Talia hit a layup with 3:08 remaining to draw Oregon State to within 62-58, then sank a pair at the foul line eight seconds later to make it 62-60. At the one-minute mark, she buried a step-back jumper to cut Stanford’s lead to 64-62. On the Cardinal’s next possession, Brooke Demetre missed an open 3, but the long rebound went to Stanford. After an OSU foul with 19.9 seconds left, Talana Leopoldo made two free throws for a 66-62 advantage.

Hansford missed a 3, but von Oelhoffen snared the rebound, and Brink fouled her with 7.2 seconds to go. Talia — an .878 free throw shooter — missed the first gift shot, then made the second to make it 66-63.

Stanford’s in-bounds pass was batted into the air, but Iriafen snagged it and was fouled with 5.2 ticks left. She split a pair, and it was over.

“I loved our team’s effort and grit and toughness to fight to the very end and give ourselves a chance,” Rueck said. “It’s a sign of great things.”

Oregon State has lost three of four in Beers’ absence. With a healthy Beers, I am of the opinion that the Beavers are better than the Cardinal. The way they were playing before her injury against UCLA, I’m not sure they’d have lost any of the three. That’s how important Beers — who watched Thursday’s game in street clothes and cheered as wildly as anybody in Gill from the OSU bench — is to her team.

The Beavers’ goal is to get at least a national four seed, which would put them in position to play host to first- and second-round NCAA Tournament games and then the Portland Regional March 29 through April 1 at Moda Center.

With a healthy Beers, much is possible. A Pac-12 Tournament title, the four seed, perhaps even a berth in the program’s first Final Four since 2016.

Those things don’t just happen, though. The shooters can’t go cold like they did Thursday night at Gill. That opened the door for the Cardinal to ride a Brink’s truck (sorry again) to victory.

► ◄

Readers: what are your thoughts? I would love to hear them in the comments below. On the comments entry screen, only your name is required, your email address and website are optional, and may be left blank.

Follow me on X (formerly Twitter).

Like me on Facebook.

Find me on Instagram.

Be sure to sign up for my emails.