Long-range shooting lifts No. 11 Oregon St women past Duke

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Oregon State point guard Destiny Slocum said that her team can't live and die by the 3-pointer.

"You can't rely on that. We were hitting and that was what was open, and it worked so." Slocum said.

Slocum scored 21 points with five 3-pointers and No. 11 Oregon State used long-range marksmanship to beat Duke 71-57 on Thursday night.

Kat Tudor had 15 points with four 3-pointers and Mikayla Pivec added nine points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Beavers (9-2), who avenged a loss from last season.

"We actually missed some point-blank shots in this game where we could have separated by even more than we did," Oregon State coach Scott Rueck said.

Haley Gorecki had 18 points, 11 rebounds and three steals and Leaonna Odom added 17 points for the Blue Devils (6-4).

Oregon State shot 14 for 29 on 3-pointers, while Duke was 1 for 9.

"They hit some deep 3s that were rather impressive. If they're hitting those shots all the time, that's going to be hard for people to guard," said Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie.

The Blue Devils took a 9-0 lead to open the game, with Gorecki scoring seven for the Blue Devils.

"We had good momentum. We got easy shots. We got good looks," Gorecki said.

The Beavers missed their first nine shots, but then found their range and took a 15-13 lead. The first quarter ended tied at 15-all.

Oregon State scored the last five points of a back-and-forth second quarter to go ahead 32-25 at the break.

The Beavers took control of the game with a 13-4 run to close the third quarter, capped by a Pivec lay-in just before the buzzer, to go ahead 53-39. Oregon State made three 3-pointers during the surge.

Duke couldn't get closer than eight points in the fourth quarter.

In the two team's only previous meeting, from last season, Duke defeated Oregon State 72-65 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

BIG PICTURE

Duke: The Blue Devils hadn't played in two weeks, as their game scheduled against South Carolina on Dec. 9 was cancelled due to weather. But Duke didn't look anything close to rusty to start the game.

Oregon State: The Beavers were coming off a 76-70 loss in the Maui Classic to Texas A&M, a team that is now ranked at No. 23. While the Blue Devils aren't ranked, the win over a quality program should improve Oregon State's profile.

SLOW START

Rueck wasn't surprised the Beavers started slow. "Anytime you lose a meaningful game, a painful game like we did in our last outing, I think it always kind of has a hangover. It just takes a while to remember who you are. The doubt creeps in from a loss," he said. Rueck added that he was proud of the way his team grinded to get back into the game.

FINISHING STRONG

Oregon State was challenged in the fourth quarter when the Blue Devils whittled down the margin, but the Beavers pulled away and got the stops they needed. "This team is figuring out who we are and how to finish," Rueck said.

UP NEXT

Duke hosts East Carolina on Dec. 28.

Oregon State hosts CSU Bakersfield on Dec. 29.