Mikayla Pivec’s game-winner propels Oregon State past Arizona as Beavers stay unbeaten

Did she travel?

The Arizona Wildcats have only lost two home games in the last 11 months. Mikayla Pivec and the Oregon State Beavers are responsible for both.

The senior guard scored in the lane with 1.4 seconds left to lead No. 3 Oregon State to a 63-61 win over No. 18 Arizona on Friday in front of 5,694 in McKale Center.

Pivec also hit the game-winner in Tucson last February when OSU outlasted Arizona in double overtime. The Wildcats (13-2, 2-2 Pac-12) had reeled off 13 straight wins at home since that loss.

“Can she graduate now?” joked Arizona coach Adia Barnes. “I don’t ever want to see her again.”

The Beavers improve to 15-0, just one of two unbeaten teams in the country. Arizona was the first team to lose to them by single digits, and were oh-so-close to being the first to beat them.

Aari McDonald had a potential game-winning 3 blocked at the buzzer after she saw a potential game-winning 3 rim out on the previous possession. The UA point guard finished with 15 points on 6-of-21 shooting, an uncharacteristically cold night.

“Aari had a couple shots go in and out, shots she normally has,” Barnes said. “And they weren’t forced, they were open.”

Pivec’s bucket shouldn’t have counted either, according to the totally unbiased Arizona fans in my Twitter mentions. She appeared to switch her pivot foot as she spun to score over Amari Carter. Barnes did not think it was a travel, but admitted she was too busy to focus on Pivec’s feet.

“She made a tough shot because it looked like she got bodied up, and she kind of stepped through,” Barnes said. “She’s a great player and she hits big shots. But I wasn’t mad about the last play. There were some things we could have done differently. We drew up the exact play they were gonna run, and they ran it. And her going downhill to her left, she’s hard to guard. She is the person we knew they’d give the ball to.”

Mikayla Pivec pivots and scores in the lane to give Oregon State a 63-61 lead on Arizona with 1.4 seconds left. pic.twitter.com/PiwC8kUvOu

— Ryan Kelapire (@RKelapire) January 11, 2020

Pivec was critical down the stretch, scoring eight of Oregon State’s final 10 points to finish with a game-high 17. Destiny Slocum added 13 points and six assists for the Beavers, going 3-for-3 from behind the arc. The redshirt junior buried a triple from the wing to give the Beavers an 11-point lead midway through the third quarter.

But no lead was safe in what was a rugged game of runs. Arizona scored 10 straight points to pull within 45-44 with 1:32 left in the third, holding the Beavers scoreless for almost four minutes. Only 21 total fouls were called, as the officials let the teams get physical.

“We made an adjustment that was effective for the on-ball (screens),” Barnes said. “I don’t usually yell, but I did yell in that timeout (early in the second half). I screamed at the top of my lungs because we were supposed to do something two possessions in a row ... and we’re usually disciplined. So after that, we did it every time. And it worked. When we were icing on-ball (screens), I thought it was very effective.”

OSU ended its scoring drought in a big way when Kat Tudor was fouled as she swished a high-arcing 3. She made the ensuing free throw to give the Beavers a five-point advantage heading into the fourth quarter. Oregon State scored the first four points of the period to take a nine-point lead. The Wildcats quickly whittled it away, scoring six answered points.

“We can’t allow [those runs] against No. 3 in the country,” Barnes said. “But we’re right there. ... Years ago against a top program, we would have been killed. So we are right there. We played within one basket.”

And even had a late lead. Carter banked in a runner to give Arizona a 60-59 advantage with 3:26 left, before Pivec sank two free throws to put OSU back up by one with 2:59 left.

Cate Reese, who had 15 points and 11 rebounds against a much bigger OSU frontcourt, split a pair of free throws to knot the game at 61-all with 1:40 to play. Those were the last points of the game until Pivec’s game-winner.

The Wildcats missed seven of their last eight shots, shooting 41 percent on the night and 4-for-16 from 3.

“They were some good looks, we just couldn’t convert,” said junior Sam Thomas, who had 11 points and hit a deep 3 to give Arizona a 26-22 lead with 5:04 left in the second quarter.

Arizona forced 19 turnovers, getting a defensive boost from Dominique McBryde, who returned from a sprained ankle and played 16 minutes off the bench in her first action since Dec. 2.

The senior entered with 3:51 left in the first quarter, immediately rotating for a weak side block that resulted in layup for Thomas the other way. McBryde then collected a pass underneath from Helena Pueyo and laid it in to cut OSU’s lead to 16-13 in the first.

McBryde finished with four points and two blocks.

“It felt amazing,” she said. “I missed being out there, I missed being with my teammates, missed the hype of it all. ... It would have been even better if we got the win, but that didn’t happen.”

Pueyo exited early in the second quarter with an ankle sprain and missed the rest of the game, though Barnes expects her to play Sunday vs. No. 2 Oregon.

“It hurt us when Pueyo got hurt because against the zone she really stretches the defense,” Barnes said.

Before twisting her ankle, Pueyo drained a pull-up 3 from the top of the key before forcing a steal and assisting Reese in transition to trim OSU’s lead to 10-9 after the Beavers opened the game on a 7-0 run.

Carter sank a long two at the buzzer at the end of the first to cut the deficit to 19-15, and Arizona carried that momentum into the second quarter, beginning the period on an 11-3 run to claim a 26-22 lead. Three different Wildcats buried a 3 during that stretch. The McKale Center cheered louder and louder for each one.

The Beavers were not phased. They closed the quarter on a 14-4 run to re-take a 36-30 lead at the break. Oregon State made seven 3s in the first half, with five players making at least one. They finished 9 for 20 from distance. Arizona owned a 32-22 edge in the paint.

“They’re hard to guard because they spread you out and they have a good post player in the lane, so you gotta help on the weak side, and then you’re late to rotate out the shooters,” Barnes said. “The mistakes that I don’t like, are the fouls on the 3-point shot, the and-one. That’s why you lose the game. It’s not the last play.”

The Wildcats will face another top-5 foe Sunday in No. 2 Oregon. The Ducks were stunned by ASU 72-66 in Tempe, just their second loss all season. Barnes expects them to try to avenge it with fury.

“Right before the game I heard that (they lost),” she said, before unleashing some sarcasm. “I was like, ‘great, we get to play Oregon after a loss. That’s awesome.’ Welcome to the Pac-12.”

The Wildcats should have a little extra juice Sunday too, now knowing they can go toe-to-toe with a powerhouse like Oregon State, which will likely be the No. 1 team in the country on Monday if it can avoid a loss to the Sun Devils.

“It was nice that were with them the whole game,” Thomas said. “Even when we were down nine or 10, we still found a way to fight back.”

Here’s Adia Barnes on Arizona’s 63-61 loss to No. 3 Oregon State.

I opened the presser by asking her if she thought Mikayla Pivec traveled on her game-winner. pic.twitter.com/jOGXtYKG0F

— Ryan Kelapire (@RKelapire) January 11, 2020

Here’s Sam Thomas and Dominique McBryde after @ArizonaWBB’s 63-61 loss to No. 3 Oregon State.

Thomas had 11 points; McBryde had 4 points and 2 blocks in 16 minutes in her first game since spraining her ankle on Dec. 2.

She said it “felt amazing” to be back. pic.twitter.com/zA748PxGTd

— Ryan Kelapire (@RKelapire) January 11, 2020

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