Melgoza's 34 Not Enough For Huskies to Upset No. 17 Oregon State

Friday, February 28

Corvallis, OR

6:00 PM

University of Washington

13-15,5-12Pac12

Oregon State

21-8,9-8Pac12

Washington

Oregon St.

Photo by: Brian Morse / Washington Athletics

Melgoza's 34 Not Enough For Huskies to Upset No. 17 Oregon State

February 28, 2020 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

CORVALLIS, Ore. --- Amber Melgoza scored 34 points—one shy of her season-high—but Washington was unable to pull of its second consecutive upset, as No. 17 Oregon State pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 75-61 win at Gill Coliseum on Friday night.

The Huskies fall to 13-15 on the year and to 5-12 in the Pac-12 while the Beavers improve to 21-8 and to 8-9 in conference.

Washington put up a valiant effort against Oregon State in a game which was much closer than the final score would indicate. The Huskies remained close throughout the game, fighting off run after run by the Beavers, trailing by just four heading into the fourth quarter. But OSU would pull away for good with a 9-2 run midway through the fourth to take the game by 14.

Melgoza was nearly unstoppable in the game, pouring in 34 points on 14-of-26 shooting, adding seven rebounds and a steal in the contest. The big game moved her into the Top 10 on UW's all-time scoring list as she now has 1,677 career points—1,624 of which have come over her last three seasons. She is four points away from ninth on that list and 27 points from eighth. The game was her third 30+ point scoring game of the season and seventh of her career. She also scored 20+ points for the 40th time, the ninth time this year and fourth time in her last five games.

Melgoza has been red-hot for the Huskies since February 1, averaging 22.9 points per game in the Huskies' eight games over that stretch. That's the highest average among all Pac-12 players over the stretch by 1.6 ppg and she has the two highest scoring performances (35 points vs Cal and 34 at Oregon State) in the conference since the start of February and second and third-highest in all Pac-12 games.

Melgoza helped keep the Huskies close throughout, especially in the second quarter. The senior ended the first quarter with a bucket at the buzzer, then scored UW's first 16 points of the second quarter to account for 18-straight Husky points. Melgoza closed out the game in a similar fashion, scoring 10 of Washington's final 12 points.

But the rest of the Huskies struggled to match Melgoza's output, combining for 27 points on 11-of-31 shooting. Haley Van Dyke and Khayla Rooks had the next highest scoring totals for Washington with seven points each while Missy Peterson added four points and a team-high four assists. Quay Miller had just two points, but pulled down a career-high eight rebounds.

Oregon State sprinted to an early lead, using a 7-0 run to build a 10-2 lead at the 6:11 mark. Alexis Griggsby ended the run with a three-pointer but the teams exchanged buckets with the Beavers still leading by eight with 4:03 to go. But Rooks drained a three-pointer to ignite a 9-3 Husky run capped by a buzzer beater by Melgoza to make it an 18-16 Oregon State lead after one.

Melgoza opened the second quarter with back-to-back baskets to give Washington its first lead of the game at 20-18 at the 8:46 mark. But Oregon State would respond with an 8-2 run over the next two minutes to go back up three. On the strength of four three-pointers in the quarter, the Beavers slowly stretched the lead up with a triple by Kat Tudor putting OSU up 40-30 with 2:23 to go before the half.

Washington answered back to quiet the crowd of 5,482 by closing the half strong. Melgoza hit a fadeaway jumper in the paint to ignite a half-ending 8-0. After Melgoza scored UW's first 16 points of the quarter, Haley Van Dyke hit a tough pullup to with 1:06 left. Missy Peterson then hit a pair of free throws and after a defensive stop, the Huskies got a jumper from Rooks with three seconds left to make it a two-point game at the break.

Melgoza again gave the Huskies back the lead to start the third quarter, extending the run to 12-0 with a pair of buckets to open the second half. Her second shot put the Huskies up 42-40 at the 8:31 mark, but was answered by back-to-back buckets from the Beavers as they went back on top with 7:23 left. Haley Van Dyke would put UW up again with a three at the 6:58 mark, but it proved to be the final lead for the Huskies as Oregon State answered with back-to-back threes to spark an 8-0 run.

Washington again closed the gap and quieted the crowd with a 6-1 run over the next two minutes and trailed by just four after three quarters at 55-51.

Oregon State would score the first four points of the fourth quarter, then broke the game open with a 7-0 run to go up 68-55 with 3:28 left. The Huskies were unable to score over a five-minute stretch during that run and hit just one field goal the rest of the way as the Beavers pulled away for the win.

Washington struggled to find the basket from long range in the game, shooting 4-of-18 (22%) from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Oregon State connected on 12-of-27 (44%) from three-point range in the game including hitting eight in the first half.

The Huskies close out the regular season on Sunday, traveling to face No. 3 Oregon in Eugene at Noon.