'Go Mode': No. 11 Oregon State takes down No. 9 UCLA in Corvallis thriller
Talia von Oelhoffen had been visualizing this sort of moment all week. She swears.
CORVALLIS — If she’s being honest, she blacked out a bit at the end there. Somewhere between nailing the biggest shot of her career and leaping on the Gill Coliseum scorer’s table to salute one of the largest-ever women’s basketball crowds the venue has housed.
Talia von Oelhoffen had been visualizing this sort of moment all week. She swears.
“I don't know why,” she said, “I had a feeling that it was gonna come down to the shots like that… I was just ready for it and I wanted it.”
For the record, teammate Timea Gardiner “knew it was in.” The shot in question, a top-of-key game-winning 3-pointer that sealed an all-time win for the No. 11 Beavers over No. 9 UCLA, 79-77, as time expired. But ask von Oelhoffen, who hit three other triples and scored a team-high 22, if she knew it was good upon release, and a confident scorer turns momentarily hesitant.
“A little bit, I don’t know,” she said. “I didn't really feel anything. I was just in ‘go mode.’”
‘Go mode’ appeared stoic at first, von Oelhoffen turning her back, almost casually, to flash a 3-point celebration with her shooting hand. The Beavers swarmed their hero, who sank the ultimate decider in a game featuring four lead changes in the final 16 seconds. Then came that ascent onto the scorer’s table where she met a roaring crowd head on.
Perhaps a stroke of dramatic improv from the junior? Nope, she envisioned that exact detail, too, just one day before it all played out.
On a night where a near-loss could still have been viewed as a win, that just wouldn’t do for these Beavers (21-3, 10-3 Pac-12), who slid into sole possession of second place in the Pac-12 late Friday night.
The win, over a Bruins team (19-5, 8-5) who dealt Oregon State a 65-54 loss in Los Angeles on Jan. 7, is another statement in a season full of them. And its thrilling finish puts it right up there with the best coach Scott Rueck can remember.
First, consider the circumstances. Saturday started disjointed and flat-out ugly before blooming into the classic it became. The Beavers won despite allowing a season-high 77 points. The Beavers won without their best player for three quarters, after star post and leading-scorer Raegan Beers left the game upon absorbing a shot to the face in the opening minute of the second quarter. The Beavers won, incredibly and improbably, despite trailing 72-65 with three minutes to go, 75-74 with eight seconds, and 77-76 with 1.1.
“For what this meant tonight, for the adversity that we faced, and the opportunity that it created and was,” Rueck said, “I mean, how do you beat that shot tonight?”
He later called the evening: “Just pure fun.”
A crowd of 8,500-plus would likely agree. The lines started taking shape outside of Gill just after 5 p.m. and wrapped down the block an hour later. Moments before the 7 p.m. tip, the student section was packed full enough to render it a record for an Oregon State women’s basketball game.
“Oh my god,” remarked one student to another upon exiting the concourse and taking in the scene for the first time.
Those fans got another dose of Gill Magic Friday. And while the Oregon State men’s team hasn’t consistently held down home court in the weeks following Jordan Pope’s buzzer-beating three, the women just don’t seem to lose there.
The Beavers six-game win-streak has vaulted them into contention for the top spot in the Pac-12 and perhaps a No. 1 seed as they barrel towards March, picking up wins in every which way.
“I think they have just really grown in their confidence,” said UCLA coach Cori Close, still sifting through the moments that led to a shocking loss.
It’d be hard not to brim with confidence after the Beavers latest win. And while it was all smiles for them in the aftermath, the emotion came late into the night for von Oelhoffen.
Once more asked to reflect on the content of her thoughts in the moments following a shot that will reverberate through the basketball world this week, she took one long deep breath before embarking on a reflection that appeared far more exacting than her in-game heroics.
“This is what I came here for,” she said, beginning to fight back tears. “Just seeing Gill full and being surrounded by the most amazing people. I told Scott after the game, ‘thank you for never giving up on me.’ I got to a point in my career where I didn’t know if this is what I wanted or if I was built for this...
Then she brought it all full circle.
“I didn't think it would look like this or take this long, but I wouldn't trade this for anything.”
— Shane Hoffmann, for The I-5 Corridor