PAC 10 Preview- Oregon State

Any discussion of this season’s Beavers has to start with their player losses. Casey Nash led the league in scoring averaging 20 points per game, but has graduated. Could have been Soph’s Judie Lomax and Jasmine Smith transferred out of the program. The 5-11 Lomax was awesome in post, and Smith would have seen a great deal of playing time. But that was then and this is now.

So far the Beavers are 4-2 without a quality win and a two point loss Sunday night to USF. Their pre-season schedule isn’t much so they could enter the Pac 10 with a winning record. However I would think their goal this season is to simply stay ahead of WSU and Arizona as they build up their team.

Tiffany Ducker has returned from a redshirt year to be a solid post for the Beavers. She’s a 6-2 Jr who has had two 10 rebound games and has scored 19 in a game thus far this season. Tiffany has averaged 10 points and 8 rebounds per game. Prized 6-4 frosh Alex Mitchell is the backup Center.

Oregon State starts two post players and three guards. The other post is 6-1 Frosh, and former teammate of JJ Hones’, Stacy Nichols. She’s averaged just shy of 5 points and 5 rebounds per game. Other Forwards are 6-4 Frosh Viki Wohlers and 6-3 Frosh Brittany Eskridge. Neither has seen much action yet.

Mercedes Fox-Griffin, a 5-7 Jr returns as the starting Point Guard. She was outstanding last season and thus far has averaged 8.5 points per game and 4 Assists per game. Mercedes has missed two games and 5-11 Frosh Talisa Rhea moved over from back up off guard. Rhea has been a big surprise, scoring 12.5 points per game, and is also seeing a lot of time at a Wing position.

Other Wings are Ashley Allen, a 5-10 Sr and the only Sr on the team. She has had games of 23 and 25 points and 8 rebounds. She leads the team with 17 points per game. The other starting wing is Brittany Davis, a 5-10 Jr who transferred from Minnesota. She’s averaging 7 points per game. The only other Wing getting much playing time is 5-8 Soph Julie Futch, averaging just under 2 points per game.

While their record is 4-2, Oregon State is only scoring 63 points per game and being out shot and out rebounded. Coach LaVonda Wagner has the Beavers playing hard, a tribute to her coaching abilities.


BONUS: Pac 10 team Records thus far.

Stanford: 7-1
Cal: 7-1
Oregon State: 4-2
Arizona State: 4-3
Oregon: 4-3
UCLA: 4-3
USC: 3-2
Washington: 4-4
Arizona: 2-4
Washington State: 2-5