Written by Brenden Slaughter
In Sunday’s double overtime game against Stanford, there were many times where the Oregon State women’s basketball team could have folded up the tent, and said they gave a valiant effort.
Not a chance. Not with Scott Rueck’s squad.
“After the first overtime, (Gabby) Hanson and I looked at each other and were like (Oh my gosh),” star senior guard Sydney Wiese said. “At that point, it was all about will and who wanted the game the most, and both teams were scrapping for everything. When it came to those final five minutes, it was everything we had, and by the end of it, all of our tanks were empty. But we really wanted it, and we did whatever we could to make plays on both sides of the floor.”
OSU’s win at Maples Pavilion was a long time coming to say the least, as 29 other OSU WBB teams had gone into Palo Alto and come away unsuccessful before this squad took care of business.
“It was a historic moment for us, and I know it meant a lot to the coaching staff,” freshman guard Mikayla Pivec said. “It was a great win for us, we are a new team this year, but we are growing each day, and trying to get one win at a time to put us in position to win the Pac-12.”
In his tenure at OSU, it isn’t a stretch to say that Rueck has been a miracle worker. He transformed a women’s basketball program that almost dropped the program prior to his arrival, to a Final Four participant in just six seasons.
But perhaps the best trait that Rueck embodies, is his calm and cool attitude that he possesses on the floor. While watching the Beavers play Stanford on television this Sunday, the Pac-12 networks would cut to him often, getting his reaction after good and bad plays by his Beavers.
Whether it was a three-point swish by Wiese or a OSU turnover, Rueck looked cool as a cucumber.
“I’ve been doing this a while, and I learned about myself a long time ago is that I have to be what the team needs me to be,” Rueck said. “I can’t get caught up in the emotion of it, and if I do it needs to be quick, and I need to be right back. They need to be able to look at me and see calm, and especially on the road. On the road, if you're coach loses their mind, yikes.”
Despite the big win, the Beavers have to keep their even keel Rueck mentality as they move through the toughest conference in the country. The Beavers continue a brutal stretch as they travel to southern California to face UCLA, and USC.
The Bruins have been a top-15 team all season, but were dealt two losses against the Washington schools this past weekend. Despite the two losses, the Beavers know they will face an incredibly tough team that beat them in L.A. last year 71-51.
“They pressured us a lot last season,” Wiese said. “They love to run in transition, and defensively they try and turn you over, and they did (last time in L.A.). It was also one of our first Pac-12 games last season, and we going through a lot of transition still and I think we are in a better spot this year.”
Many programs would let an emotional win affect them in some way either good or bad moving into the next game, but Rueck expects the Beavers to be cool, calm and collected against the Bruins on Friday.
“I don’t see it impacting us at all, other than giving us more momentum,” Rueck said. “For (UCLA), it's gonna fire them up. Anytime they have a loss, let alone two, and (UW and WSU) are hard places to play, I think they will be laser focused and have a great week of practice. Their last memory of us in Pauley (Pavilion). is drilling us, and they played a great game and beat us pretty badly, so they are going to want to re-create that.”
In Sunday’s double overtime game against Stanford, there were many times where the Oregon State women’s basketball team could have folded up the tent, and said they gave a valiant effort.
Not a chance. Not with Scott Rueck’s squad.
“After the first overtime, (Gabby) Hanson and I looked at each other and were like (Oh my gosh),” star senior guard Sydney Wiese said. “At that point, it was all about will and who wanted the game the most, and both teams were scrapping for everything. When it came to those final five minutes, it was everything we had, and by the end of it, all of our tanks were empty. But we really wanted it, and we did whatever we could to make plays on both sides of the floor.”
OSU’s win at Maples Pavilion was a long time coming to say the least, as 29 other OSU WBB teams had gone into Palo Alto and come away unsuccessful before this squad took care of business.
“It was a historic moment for us, and I know it meant a lot to the coaching staff,” freshman guard Mikayla Pivec said. “It was a great win for us, we are a new team this year, but we are growing each day, and trying to get one win at a time to put us in position to win the Pac-12.”
In his tenure at OSU, it isn’t a stretch to say that Rueck has been a miracle worker. He transformed a women’s basketball program that almost dropped the program prior to his arrival, to a Final Four participant in just six seasons.
But perhaps the best trait that Rueck embodies, is his calm and cool attitude that he possesses on the floor. While watching the Beavers play Stanford on television this Sunday, the Pac-12 networks would cut to him often, getting his reaction after good and bad plays by his Beavers.
Whether it was a three-point swish by Wiese or a OSU turnover, Rueck looked cool as a cucumber.
“I’ve been doing this a while, and I learned about myself a long time ago is that I have to be what the team needs me to be,” Rueck said. “I can’t get caught up in the emotion of it, and if I do it needs to be quick, and I need to be right back. They need to be able to look at me and see calm, and especially on the road. On the road, if you're coach loses their mind, yikes.”
Despite the big win, the Beavers have to keep their even keel Rueck mentality as they move through the toughest conference in the country. The Beavers continue a brutal stretch as they travel to southern California to face UCLA, and USC.
The Bruins have been a top-15 team all season, but were dealt two losses against the Washington schools this past weekend. Despite the two losses, the Beavers know they will face an incredibly tough team that beat them in L.A. last year 71-51.
“They pressured us a lot last season,” Wiese said. “They love to run in transition, and defensively they try and turn you over, and they did (last time in L.A.). It was also one of our first Pac-12 games last season, and we going through a lot of transition still and I think we are in a better spot this year.”
Many programs would let an emotional win affect them in some way either good or bad moving into the next game, but Rueck expects the Beavers to be cool, calm and collected against the Bruins on Friday.
“I don’t see it impacting us at all, other than giving us more momentum,” Rueck said. “For (UCLA), it's gonna fire them up. Anytime they have a loss, let alone two, and (UW and WSU) are hard places to play, I think they will be laser focused and have a great week of practice. Their last memory of us in Pauley (Pavilion). is drilling us, and they played a great game and beat us pretty badly, so they are going to want to re-create that.”
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