Mikayla Pivec's three-point play with 2:20 left snapped a tie Monday night, and fourth-seeded Oregon State went on to eliminate fifth-seeded Gonzaga 76-70 in a second-round game of the Women's NCAA Tournament in Corvallis, Ore.
The Beavers (26-7) advance to the Albany Region semifinals, where they will play top-seeded Louisville on Friday night in their fourth straight Sweet 16 appearance. The Bulldogs finish their season with a 29-5 mark.
After Pivec's tiebreaking points, Gonzaga's Chandler Smith made a layup, but Taya Corosdale drained a 3-pointer with 1:42 left to give the Beavers a 65-61 lead. Maddie Washington added a layup and Aleah Goodman sank two free throws to make it 69-61, a margin the Zags couldn't overcome.
Pivec stuffed the stat sheet with 19 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Corosdale, Washington, Goodman and Destiny Slocum each scored 12 points for Oregon State.
Zykera Rice scored a game-high 20 points for the Bulldogs, while Smith finished with 13. Jessie Loera added 11 points and dished out six assists, and LeeAnne Wirth chipped in 10 points before fouling out.
Neither team led by more than three points in a tightly contested first quarter. There were two ties and four lead changes, a portent of what lay ahead. Gonzaga took a 15-14 lead to the second period despite a layup from Oregon State's Joanna Grynek with 48 seconds left.
The Bulldogs never trailed in the second, opening up a pair of five-point leads in the final three minutes. But the Beavers kept fighting back, tying the game at 32 on a 3-pointer by Corosdale before a Loera layup gave Gonzaga a 34-32 edge at the half.
Rice's layup at the 7:32 mark of the third quarter gave the Bulldogs the largest lead of the game at 38-32. However, Oregon State reeled them in and grabbed the lead late in the period, using two free throws by Pivec and a foul shot by Slocum to take a 50-49 edge to the fourth quarter.
--Field Level Media OLUSSPORT Reuters US Online Report Sports News 20190326T040635+0000