CORVALLIS, Ore. – Despite a strong first-quarter effort and 15 points from senior guard Taylor Christensen, Utah Valley women's basketball suffered a 98-41 defeat at the hands of No. 18 Oregon State Wednesday night inside the Gill Coliseum.
 
Christensen, who scored nine of her 15 points on four field goals in the first quarter, helped the Wolverines (0-3) put together the highest-scoring quarter by an OSU opponent with 18 points in the opening frame.  However, the Beavers (2-0) overcame UVU and Christensen's early fight with four double-digit scorers and a 27-point second quarter to run away with the win.
 
The Wolverines put together a 9-4 run in response to a 14-2 Oregon State run across the opening 4:15 of the game. Christensen hit a long pull-up jumper just inside the wing and freshman guard Sophia Jacobsson added a layup to begin the run, before sophomore guard Gabrielle Leos nailed a three to cut the deficit to 18-11.
 
After the Beavers took a 21-13 lead, the Wolverines reeled off a 7-0 run over the final 2:00 of the first quarter to pull to within three. A Christensen three-pointer and her third two-point jumper of the frame, along with a Seals driving layup from the left side brought the score to 21-18 heading into the second quarter.
 
OSU responded with an 11-0 run to start the second period, stretching their advantage to 27-18. The Beavers' spurt came after a pair of buckets in the paint from senior center Marie Gulich and ended with free throws from sophomore guard Mikayla Pivec.
 
Seals stopped the bleeding with 5:27 remaining in the second quarter, converting another layup for her second basket of the day. The senior guard's fourth point brought Utah Valley to within 38-20.
 
With 2:22 left to go in the first half, Jacobsson put on a shifty move above the right wing past OSU defenders that led to a layup and pushed the Wolverines back to within 41-22 of the Beavers. Christensen answered another Oregon State bucket with a pair of free throws to keep UVU's deficit under 20, 43-24.
 
In spite of UVU's attempts to claw back, the Beavers scored the next 16 points across the end of the first half and beginning of the second to pull away further with the lead.
 
During their big 18-point quarter at the start of the contest, the Wolverines matched their highest shooting percentage in a period on the year by knocking down 57.1 percent of their shots on 8-of-14 shooting. During that span, Utah Valley drained two of its five three-pointers, including Leos' and Christensen's pair of three-pointers.

Gulich finished with a game-high 19 points for Oregon State, followed by Pivec with 18 points. Joining their Beaver teammates in double-digits, sophomore guard Kat Tudor scored 17 points and freshman guard Aleah Goodman finished with 12 points to round out the top scorers for OSU.
 
The Wolverines return to Utah for a short trek to Provo to face crosstown rival BYU in the UCCU Crosstown Clash on Tuesday, Nov. 21. Tip-off inside the Marriott Center is set for 11 a.m. MT.