Oregon State women’s basketball is ready for another postseason run
CORVALLIS, Ore. (BVM) — Back in April of 2021, Oregon State’s fanbase was primarily focused on the OSU men’s basketball team and its improbable Cinderella run to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight before falling to the Houston Cougars. It was definitely deserving, as the men’s team had never had a run like this before in the tournament.
In the shadows, however, there was the Oregon State women’s basketball team, who consistently gets overlooked by locals in Corvallis compared to the other basketball team. This shouldn’t be the case, as the women’s team is constantly ranked among the top 25 across the nation, and consistently makes trips to the NCAA women’s tournament.
In the 2021 tournament, the women’s team’s season ended earlier than anticipated. After handily winning its opening game against Florida State, the Beavs fell to women’s basketball powerhouse South Carolina, who would go on to advance all the way to the Final Four, before falling to the eventual champion and fellow Pac-12 team, the Stanford Cardinal.
Fast forward to fall of 2021, and head coach Scott Rueck is ready to run it back. His team is loaded with some returning players, as well as plenty of new faces. Greta Kampschroeder, a preseason McDonald’s All-American, leads the way in the backcourt, along with freshman guard Talia von Oelhoffen, who actually got her career started last January, as an early entrant, which was a benefit from COVID-19 times.
Taylor Jones is one of the veterans on the roster, even though she is just a sophomore in standing. Jones, the leading rebounder in the Pac-12, is joined in the frontcourt by Ellie Mack and Taya Corosdale, both of whom should be in line for a bigger role as the season progresses.
In the ESPN preseason Top 25 power rankings, the Beavs clocked in at No. 23, and have only moved up since, climbing up to No. 15 as recently as November 21. When it comes to the Pac-12 preseason standings, OSU was picked to finish fourth in the conference, behind UCLA, Oregon and reigning NCAA and Pac-12 champion Stanford.
Already three games into the season, the Beavs are 3-0 after their 31–point victory over CSU Bakersfield on Saturday. The Beavs were surprisingly led by freshman AJ Marotte, a young guard who had 19 points on an efficient night.
“Getting those reps in practice, over and over again, we have good competition, especially in practice,” Marotte said during their postgame presser. “Playing against these older girls on the team every day, they make me better everyday. With all those reps in practice, I know I will be ready when the time comes on the court.”
She was certainly ready when the time came on Saturday, as she efficiently scored at will against the Road Runners of CSU Bakersfield, who were without their head coach Greg McCall. The Road Runners were simply no match for the Beavers, as the Pac-12 is a step up in competition compared to the Big West Conference, where the Road Runners were projected in the preseason to finish sixth in the Big West, right behind Hawaii.
“There was no way to truly predict how ready our freshman class was going to be,” head coach Scott Rueck said in the postgame presser. “You see it in practice, but one of the hallmarks within our program is to create comfortable first-year players, transfer or freshman. To see (Marotte and Kampschroeder) compete the way that they did over our first three games, really isn’t a surprise to me, but I had to see it first.”
Rueck and the rest of the team has had a breeze of a first few games in the comfort of their home arena, Gill Coliseum. Before beating CSU Bakersfield by 30 points, the Beavs handily beat LMU and CBU. Now, the real test comes, as the Beavs are heading down to Florida, specifically Daytona Beach, for an in-season tournament to play No. 12 Michigan, then Notre Dame the following day.
“I don’t really care when we play, or when. When we are home, we’re spoiled by Beaver Nation. However, winning on the road is always rewarding, silencing the crowd,” Rueck said. “With these games being at a neutral sight, there won’t be a crazy atmosphere, not a whole lot of fans. This is okay, though, because we are used to it from all of last year. However, we recognize that these are Power 5 opponents, they are a step up in competition, and I am excited to see what our team can do, as these opponents are going to help prepare us for conference play.”
After the Beavs trip to Florida, they return to Corvallis to finish out their pre-conference schedule, highlighted by a lone trip to Pennsylvania to battle the Villanova Wildcats. Sandwiched between that game are more games against Division ll opponents, with conference play kicking off on New Years Day, vs. the Colorado Buffaloes.
