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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 2022)
The BulleTin • Sunday, FeBruary 13, 2022 B3 WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL | OREGON STATE Beavers’ tournament hopes beginning to dim point halftime lead. Third: OSU’s offense goes silent for nearly four minutes, while the Ducks increase a four-point lead to 14. Fourth: During a four-min- ute stretch, Oregon outscores the Beavers 14-2. Given that, it’s probably a miracle Oregon State lost by only eight. But the Beavers proved they have enough talent to put it together for stretches. Just not games. Against NCAA tourna- ment-type teams like Oregon, it’s not enough. “That’s kind of been our hurdle this year. Amazing spurts and great stretches, and then consistency has been our nemesis, at both ends of the floor. We lose focus, make mistakes and let teams get away from us,” Rueck said. Turnovers are constantly an issue. The Beavers had 15, to Oregon’s six. That allowed the Ducks to take 16 more shots, and get more free throw op- portunities. It was the fourth consecutive game where OSU had at least nine more turn- overs than the opponent. Rueck thought for good stretches, the Beavers moved the ball well, resulting in high-quality shots. “But if one out of every four (possessions) is a turnover, that makes it tough to over- come,” Rueck said. “One of the challenges for this team is we have a lot of inexperience on the perimeter. When you have a veteran group, it’s easy. They’ve seen it a billion times.” Von Oelhoffen is one of those brilliant, but inexperi- enced perimeter players. On a night where she nearly had the school’s first triple double in five years, von Oelhoffen also struggled at times. She didn’t take a shot during the first half. Then in the fourth quarter, with Oregon racing out to a 69-58 lead, von Oelhoffen sat on the bench for three min- utes after making some defen- sive mistakes. Oregon State’s best stretch came late in the third quarter. Trailing 48-34 with 3:15 re- maining, the Beavers scored 18 of the game’s next 21 points to take a 52-51 lead by quar- ter’s end. Everything seemed to click: defense, transition, shooting. About a minute before the burst, Rueck was hit with a technical foul after what he thought was non-call and a dangerous play. After getting little satisfaction from the of- ficial, Rueck walked away, turned to the Gill Coliseum crowd and began motioning his arms, asking for noise. Rueck insists he wasn’t try- ing to fire up his team. “I wasn’t happy with what I thought was a dangerous play. It’s my job. I’m hired to coach and protect this team,” Rueck said. “I was happy to see our team fight and give them- selves a chance tonight.” More opportunities to pro- duce an NCAA tournament resume are ahead, starting Sunday at Oregon. It’s the fourth of five consecutive games against opponents ranked among the top 10 in NCAA NET rankings, a key tournament metric. Oregon is No. 7. “It’s been a hard stretch for everyone, including our staff. This kind of thing really stretches you, as a human,” Rueck said. “Your option is the look at it and have fun with it. So we’ve been doing that.” she does in her other routines. “I have to let the bars swing me,” Dagen said. “I’ve been working on it for many, many years, just having the confi- dence back on that event. So nailing it and getting a re- warding score was the high- light of my day.” Dagen is thankful to have the new practice facil- ity to work on these skills. Oregon State debuted the 20,000-square-foot facility in April. “Having this new area … it just makes it easier to learn bigger skills and be safer on the body, too, with softer land- ings,” Dagen said. The No. 13 Beavers (5-1) will be home on Sunday, host- ing No. 34 Washington at noon at Gill Coliseum. Ore- gon State has two home meets and three road meets left on the schedule before the Pac-12 Championships, which will be held March 19. As a senior, Dagen is used to the collegiate calendar, but it is a new experience for Carey. “It’s definitely different than what I’m used to. I’m used to competing once a month. It’s definitely different that way, but I am having so much fun. It’s so much fun just going out there and competing ev- ery week with my team and knowing they have my back no matter what. I just want to do so well for them,” Carey said. “I’m not used to having a team. It was different for me at first. I wasn’t used to having 20 girls screaming for me, on my side. But it’s really special to me that I have all of them here.” Carey is tied for first this week in the NCAA indi- vidual all-around rankings with her Olympic teammate Sunisa Lee, of Auburn. Fel- low Olympian Jordan Chiles, a freshman at UCLA, is 13th in the all-around rankings and scored a 10.0 on her floor rou- tine last weekend. “It’s so awesome to see all of us from the Olympic team that are now in college doing so well and having fun and enjoying the gymnastics that we’re doing. I watch videos of them or I’ll watch them on TV and it makes me so happy to see all of us just doing what we love,” Carey said. Carey is excited about the potential of an Olympic re- union at the NCAA champi- onships. It seems a certainty that Carey will qualify as an individual but the goal is for Oregon State to make it as a team. The Beavers have qualified for the national champion- ships 29 times, most recently in 2019. “I think we can make it re- ally far. We have the potential, so it’s just really having the be- lief,” Dagen said. BY NICK DASCHEL The Oregonian CORVALLIS — Oregon State is running out of chances to extend its NCAA women’s basketball tournament streak to eight years. The Beavers had an ex- cellent opportunity to make a case Friday night, but too many offensive dry spells couldn’t offset some brilliant play in a 74-66 loss to No. 24 Oregon. Oregon State fell to 11-9 overall, a record that just by itself doesn’t scream NCAA tourney team. But Beavers coach Scott Rueck makes a good point when he says, look at who we’ve been playing. Each of the nine opponents Oregon State has played in the mix for an NCAA tournament bid. Even Villanova isn’t that far out of it, and the Wildcats just won at UConn. The Bea- vers lost their fourth consecu- tive game, all to teams solidly in the tournament field in Ar- izona, Arizona State, Stanford and Oregon. But at some point, if the Beavers want to join March Madness, they’ve got to beat some of these teams. OSU’s only win over a potential NCAA tournament team is Colorado. Oregon State needs more, and Friday might have been the start of something mag- ical. The Beavers had a near-triple double from Talia von Oelhoffen – 12 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists – and had a breathtaking 18-3 spurt late in the third quarter to erase a 14-point deficit. But each quarter, the Bea- vers had a killer scoreless drought. To wit: First quarter: Oregon blanks OSU for more than five minutes, while running off 14 consecutive points. Second: The Beavers don’t score during the final 4:37 of the quarter. The Ducks turn a three-point deficit into a five- Gymnastics Continued from B1 For Dagen, the high score on bars was especially reward- ing. She has incorporated a new single-bar release into her program, known as the Tkatchev skill. “Last year when I was in the bar lineup, I didn’t have a sin- gle-bar release, so I couldn’t have a 10.0 start value and so it was already hard for me to get a good score without that,” Dagen said. “Bars have always been my frustrating event, I think because it is so different from the rest of the events.” There are common ele- ments on the vault, the beam and the floor and Dagen was able to master those skills through sheer force and de- termination. The rhythm of the bars, however, is different. Dagen has had to learn how to work with the bars instead of trying to power through it as Sean Meagher/The Oregonian Oregon State guard Talia von Oelhoffen sets up the offense against Oregon Friday night at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis. Olympics Super Bowl which allowed Burrow to be the most-sacked passer in the Continued from B1 league, 51 times, nine more in Bringing in veteran Matthew a playoff victory at Tennessee Stafford in exchange for a hefty — bowing up against a gen- amount of draft picks — as erational talent such as Rams well as a younger quarterback, defensive tackle Aaron Donald, Jared Goff, who was part of the and other top pass rushers Von LA team that lost in the 2019 Miller and Leonard Floyd. Super Bowl, when he strug- “This is a special group of gled mightily — has paid off talented guys on this defense,” richly for the Rams. said Miller, who Stafford’s 49,995 “We went out and won the 2015 NFL yards passing and championship in got (Matthew 323 TD passes are Denver, when he the most for a QB Stafford) because was Super Bowl making his first MVP. “I’m talking we thought it Super Bowl ap- about one of the pearance. Stafford groups I’ve was a chance to best needs 209 yards ever been fortu- passing to become be able to get a nate enough to be the sixth player to a part of. We work great player of together as a team, reach 6,000 in a single season. his magnitude. and it just gets bet- But he also puts ter each week.” What he’s done, the ball up for It’s about Ram- grabs at times. That sey being a shut- he’s elevated needs to be limited down cover guy on Sunday. against Offensive everybody “We went out Rookie of the Year around him. and got him be- Ja’Marr Chase, and cause we thought He’s made me the rest of the Los it was a chance Angeles secondary a better coach. handling Chase’s to be able to get a great player of his compatriots, Tee He’s made his magnitude,” Rams Higgins and Tyler coach Sean McVay Boyd. And about teammates said of Stafford, the same on the better.” who spent a dozen other side, with seasons playing Apple and fellow — Sean McVay, Los well without win- defensive backs try- Angeles Rams coach ning in Detroit. ing to slow down “What he’s done, Offensive Player of he’s elevated everybody around the Year Cooper Kupp, Odell him. He’s made me a better Beckham Jr. and Van Jefferson. coach. He’s made his team- It’s about the kicking games, mates better.” which have been very solid in So has the guy on the other the postseason, continuing to side, Joe Burrow. Like Stafford, perform on the sport’s biggest Burrow was the top overall stage. draft pick. His rookie season Same for the coaches: Mc- was curtailed after 10 games Vay, who is accustomed to the by a knee injury, but his sec- glaring spotlight after taking ond year has been so terrific he the Rams to the playoffs in four won NFL Comeback Player of of his five seasons, and Tay- the Year. His most recent pro- lor, his former assistant, in his duction has been magnificent. first postseason as a head man. And nearly spotless. McVay did not perform well, Burrow has gone from No. 1 nor did his team, in that Super overall pick to starting quarter- Bowl three years ago, looking back in the Super Bowl faster uncomfortable against Tom than anyone else. He has 15 Brady and the Patriots. touchdown passes and just two As difficult as it may be — interceptions in his last seven and it is very difficult — it’s games, while averaging 331.1 about treating the Super Bowl yards passing per game. in the cliched phrasing players Rarely has Burrow gambled use: just another game. There’s in the last two months, and plenty of truth to that. look how that has paid off. “You got a job to go out Of course, this matchup is there and execute and try to about a lot more than when lead your team,” Stafford said. and where the quarterbacks “The game begins, and it’s throw the ball. It’s about Cin- football. That’s what we’re here cinnati’s offensive line — for.” 40-year-old Nick Baumgartner for the title in the new event of mixed snowboardcross. At 40 years, 57 days, Baumgartner becomes the oldest snowboarder to win an Olympic medal. At 36 years, 177 days, Jacobellis, the author of a children’s book, is the sec- ond-oldest. “You’re never too late to take what you want from life,” Baumgartner said. Continued from B1 True north squabble Slopestyle gold medalist Max Parrot said fellow Cana- dian snowboarder Mark Mc- Morris apologized Saturday for saying Parrot only won be- cause of questionable Olympic judging. Parrot acknowledged to The Associated Press that he failed to fully execute a grab on the first jump of the slope- style course Monday and said he was lucky the judges didn’t see it. He maintains he still had the best run of the day and earned his first Olympic gold. McMorris finished third but told CBC on Friday he de- served to beat Parrot and Chi- nese silver medalist Su Yiming. Parrot said there were no hard feelings over McMorris’ comments. “He actually came to me earlier today and he apolo- gized for his non-sportsman- ship,” Parrot said. “I told him no worries.” Marcio Jose Sanchez/aP Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) stretches during a walk- through in practice Saturday in Los Angeles. Matt Slocum/aP United States’ Kenny Agostino (11) celebrates after scoring a goal against Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics Saturday in Beijing. The kids are all right A young and inexperienced U.S. hockey team went toe to toe with Canada in a bruising matchup between the long- time rivals and grinded out a 4-2 victory to remain un- beaten in two games at the Olympics. “We didn’t back down from their physical play,” said cap- tain Andy Miele, who led the U.S. with a goal and an assist. “I love the way our team re- sponded.” Thanks to Miele’s response goal 70 seconds after Canada scored and 35 saves by Strauss Mann, the U.S. is in the driver’s seat to earn a spot in the quar- terfinals. Beating Germany on Sunday would put the Amer- icans first in the group and could make them the top seed in the knockout round. Oldies but goodies Lindsey Jacobellis won her second gold medal of the Olympics as she teamed with Dancing out ahead Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron broke their own world record in the rhythm dance at the Beijing Olympics, scoring 90.83 points to begin the ice dance event. That gave the four-time world champs from France a cush- ion over Russian rivals Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov heading into the free dance. Madison Hubbell and Zach- ary Donohue were in third, and their American team- mates Madison Chock and Evan Bates were in fourth place. The medals will be de- cided with the free dance Monday morning in Beijing. Jed Jacobsohn/aP Los Angeles Rams’ Matthew Stafford hands off to Sony Michel during the NFC championship game against the San Francisco 49ers Jan. 30 in Inglewood, California.
