EUGENE, OR — Bushnell Beacons women’s basketball returned to Dave Lipp Court after a loss to Southern Oregon University on Friday night to face the Oregon Tech Owls. Both teams came into Saturday afternoon fresh off a loss, with Oregon Tech falling to Corban University 70-60 the day prior.
To start the first quarter, Beacons won the tip-off but quickly lost the ball to the Owls. Both teams started off with strong defense until senior Ayden Krupke made a layup, putting Bushnell on the board first. Oregon Tech followed with freshman Ayla Marston making a layup of her own. Throughout the rest of the period, the Beacons trailed the Owls by as many as five, ending the quarter 14-11.
In the second quarter, the Owls scored first after Olivia Sprague was fouled by Ciena Tumoine, sending her to the line, where she made both free throws. Kenzi Pedersen of the Beacons followed with a layup, but they went scoreless for the next three minutes, down by seven until Dayvis Key made one of two free throws.
Oregon Tech stayed in the lead all of the second quarter, with a high of 10 points. Oregon Tech scored 12 in the second, with Bushnell scoring half that, entering the break down 26-17. The Owls had a three-way tie for their highest scorer in the first half with juniors Tatum Schmerbach and Jozie Ramos, and graduate student Olivia Sprague scoring six points each. On the Beacon side, Krupke led the half with five.
“She's tried so hard to do exactly what I've asked her to do, and as we get to the end of her time, she's really kind of figuring it out, and has really become a really stabilizing force for us,” head coach Chad Meadors said of Krupke. “She's always been able to score. We’ve always been working on her decision-making and efficiency… She had a tremendous impact on the game without shooting 20 shots, with facilitating and staying calm and getting us into things.”
Ramos came into the second half with a bang, scoring her first 3-pointer of the game and increasing the lead to 12. The Beacons responded soon with a triple from sophomore Sabrina Flowers. Sprague then increased the lead to 14, but after scoring only one less than the Owls in the whole quarter, the Beacons were down by only 10.
The Beacons came into the final quarter with Tumoine starting to cut the Owls’ lead down with an early jump shot. After a free throw and 3-pointer by Schmerbach, Bushnell went on an 8-0 run cutting Oregon Tech's lead down to five. The Owls closed the quarter out with a 13-point lead, as the Beacons were unable to rally back for a 66-53 loss.
Bushnell’s overall leading scorer was Ellis Mastel with 16 points, a sophomore returning from injury.
“Ellis, it's been a year-long battle… to get right, to feel comfortable,” Meadors said of Mastel. “This is what we got from Ellis every game last year, and we finally, she finally broke through, and so it was a beautiful thing for her and for us to see that action. It's not moral victories, but it's progress.”
The Beacons will start the last two weeks of the season with home games against the top two teams in the conference, Eastern Oregon University and The College of Idaho.
“We're still competing for the eighth spot in the conference playoff,” Meadors said when asked about the last weekend at home. “So we’re one win away from securing that, and why not make it a statement against one of the better teams in the conference?”