Two days after suffering their first defeat of the season, the Oregon State women faced a bit of trouble on Sunday afternoon at Gill Coliseum. Playing against winless Long Beach State, the Beavers trailed 48-47 entering the fourth quarter.
OSU was picked as the West Coast Conference favorite in a preseason poll of the league’s coaches. A 64-58 loss to unbeaten Colorado State on Friday night was hardly a black mark on the Beavers’ resume.
But a loss to Long Beach potentially was going to be problematic for the Beavers' computer rating, especially for seeding purposes in the NCAA Tournament if they get that far. It took just eight seconds of the fourth quarter for OSU to announce it was ready to take over.
Sophomore guard Ally Schimel buried a 3-pointer at 9:52 of the period to lift the Beavers (5-1) into a 50-48 lead and spark a 13-0 run that eventually became 19-2. That gave them a commanding 66-50 lead and OSU went on to complete 71-55 triumph.
The Beavers’ bench scored 13 of the team’s 24 fourth-quarter points, led by Lara Alonso-Basurto, a freshman forward from Madrid, Spain, who saved seven of her 10 points for the final quarter.
Junior guard Kennedie Shuler had eight points, 14 assists and four steals for the Beavers. Her assist total was just one shy of the program record, shared by three players. Senior guard Tiara Bolden contributed 14 points and seven rebounds and junior guard Jenna Villa posted 14 points and 10 rebounds.
LIONS REMAIN PERFECT: The LMU men, picked to finish a modest seventh place in the West Coast Conference preseason coaches poll, continue to roll along. The Lions improved to 6-0 last week with a 78-74 overtime road victory vs. previously undefeated UC Santa Barbara.
Myron “MJ” Amey Jr., has been a consistently impactful player of the bench. The redshirt junior guard, who came to LMU in 2024-25 after three seasons at San Jose State, had 29 points against UCSB, including 19 in the second half and three more in overtime. Amey leads the Lions in scoring at 17.5 points per game.
Guards Rodney Brown and Jan Vide are each scoring at a 15.2 pace ad forward Jalen Shelley provides 12.7 points.
LMU is the only conference squad that has two road victories, having also beaten UTEP in El Paso. The Lions are averaging 87.3 points, win by an average margin of 23.5 points , shoot 41.7 percent as a team from 3-point range and outrebound their opponents by 8.3 per game.
The Lions will spend Monday and Tuesday at Daytona Beach, Florida at the Sunshine Slam, where they face Florida Atlantic (4-1) in the opener and either George Mason or Ohio on the second day.
LAST WEEK’S BIG THING: The Seattle men scored their biggest victory since rejoining the West Coast Conference this season, rallying from a 13-point second-half deficit to beat Stanford 77-69 on the road. It was the Redhawks’ first win in five tries over the Cardinal. Junseok Yeo scored 15 points, Will Heimbrodt had 13 points and six blocked shots, Houran Dan added 11 points and Maleek Arington did a little of everything, contributing nine points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals.
“I’m so proud of this team,” said head coach Chris Victor, whose squad improved to 4-1. “Down 13, with nothing going our way, individuals weren’t playing great, they stayed in the fight. They believed and they clawed their way back.”
THIS WEEK’S BIG THING, PART 1: The 13th-ranked Gonzaga men (5-0) meet their latest challenging opponent Monday night when they face No. 11 Alabama (3-1) at Las Vegas. The Crimson Tide owns victories over No. 8 Illinois and No. 14 St John’s, and its lone defeat came by an 87-89 margin to top-ranked Purdue. Tipoff is 6:30 p.m. on TNT. The Zags are right back it Tuesday night against Maryland (4-1) at the MGM Grand. Again a 6:30 p.m. start, this one on TruTV.
THIS WEEK’S BIG THNG, PART II: The Saint Mary’s men (6-0), who have rolled through a fair accommodating home schedule, hit the road for the first time to take on Wichita State (4-1) on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. (ESPN2), tipping of the Battle 4 Atlantic at Nassau, Bahamas. The Gaels will play ether Virginia Tech or Colorado State on Thanksgiving Day, with the three-day event wrapping up on Friday.
THIS WEEK’S BIG THING, PART III: Two more men’s teams off to robust starts are set for Thanksgiving Day matchups at Palm Springs. San Francisco (5-1) will play Colorado (5-0) in the Acrisure Holiday Classic at 11 a.m., before Santa Clara (6-0) takes on Saint Louis (5-0) in the Acrisure Invitational at 4 p.m. The Dons will face either Nevada or Washington on Friday while the Broncos play either Stanford or Minnesota.
AND YES, THIS WEEK’S BIG THING, PART IV: The Oregon State women (5-1) face unbeaten and 17th-ranked Vanderbilt (5-0) on Thanksgiving in the Paradise Jam at Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands. Tipoff is 5 p.m. on ESPN+. The Beavers would then battle either BYU or Virginia Tech on Saturday.
ENSMINGER’S PEERLESS EFFICIENCY: Santa Clara guard Jake Ensminger contributed 14 points, 20 points and eight assists to the Broncos’ two victories last week. But one statistic jumps out: Zero turnovers in 65 minutes.
A 6-foot-9 native of Ulm, Germany has played 177 minutes this season and has given the ball up just once. His assist-to-turnover ratio of 26-to-1 leads the nation. Ensminger’s other contributions to the 6-0 Broncos include 7.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.
CLARK FINDS A HOME IN MALIBU: A top-100 prospect out of high school, Austin Clark played in just seven games as a freshman at Wake Forest two years ago. He was scoreless while playing for the Demon Deacons.
Clark transferred to Pepperdine before last season and redshirted. This year, he has blossomed, living up to the credits he received while a prep prospect.
A 6-foot-4 native of Easton, PA, scored a career-high 30 points but could not prevent Stephen F. Austin from claiming a 63-60 victory over the Waves on Friday. Austin shot 9-for-12 from field, including 5-for-6 from the 3-point arc. Through six games Clark is averaging 16.3 points, tops among four Pepperdine players producing at least 12 points per game.