Benz leads Cougars past Beavers

Kate Benz had 12 points and seven rebounds, and Washington State used a 15-2 second-half run to beat Oregon State 58-41 in a Pacific-10 Conference opener Thursday in Corvallis, Ore.

Marisa Stotler added 10 points for the Cougars (5-6, 1-0), who had not won a conference game on the road since January 2004, a streak of 21 defeats.

Casey Nash led Oregon State (4-4, 0-1) with 18 points and seven rebounds.

Washington State used a 10-0 run, capped by a Benz outside shot, to take a 24-14 lead with 4:17 left in the first half. Oregon State responded with seven points in a row – five by Nash – and eventually closed the gap to 26-24 at the break.

Nash scored seven of the Beavers’ first nine points of the second half before picking up her fourth foul and leaving the game with 12:50 remaining. That’s when the Cougars went on their big second-half run to take a 54-35 lead.

The Cougars hit 50 percent of their shots while holding Oregon State to 30 percent. The Beavers, who missed their first eight shots of the game, hit only 24 percent in the decisive second half.

Washington State outrebounded the Beavers 41-27.

“Cameo Hicks scored seven points in the final minute to lead Washington to a 60-56 victory against Oregon (7-3, 0-1) in the Pac-10 opener for both teams in Eugene, Ore.

Hicks, who scored a game-high 18 points, nailed a 3-pointer with 37.6 seconds remaining to give the Huskies (8-4, 1-0) a seven-point lead.

She then made four free throws to finish the Washington scoring.

Maggie O’Hara chipped in nine points and nine rebounds for the Huskies.