These women's basketball players posted big-time performances and were named to the krikya18.com starting five this week.
Raegan Beers, Oregon State
Oregon State went on the road and secured wins at No. 20 Utah and No. 4 Colorado as sophomore forward Raegan Beers led the way. Â
On Sunday, Oregon State scored its first top-five road victory in program history against Colorado, rolling to a 65-59 win over the Buffaloes. Beers filled the stat sheet with 12 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. With the double-double, Beers passed Marie Gulich in career double-doubles with her 28th, an Oregon State school record.
Oregon State, which improved to 20-3 overall and 9-3 in Pac-12 Conference play after the win at Colorado, scored their fifth straight win and topped the 20-win mark for the first time in three years and at the fastest rate since 2016-17. They also completed a regular season sweep of the Pac-12 mountain schools (Utah and Colorado) for the first time since 2019-20.
On Friday, Beers and the Beavers held Utah to 40 points below their season scoring average in a 58-44 victory. Beers led Oregon State in scoring with 17 points while grabbing eight rebounds.
Beers and the Beavers return home for two more top-20 showdowns this week, Feb. 16 versus UCLA and Feb. 18 against USC.
Lauren Gustin, Brigham Young
Brigham Young senior Lauren Gustin was instrumental as the Cougars scored a pair of wins last week, including a home win over No. 18 Baylor, the program’s first Associated Press Top-25 win of the season, and a road victory at Cincinnati on Saturday.
In the 78-66 win over Baylor, Gustin led Brigham Young in scoring with 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting while recording her 22nd double-double of the season with 16 rebounds, four on the offensive glass and an assist in the victory.
The Boise, Idaho, native was again efficient from the field, going 10-for-16 from the floor for 21 points, 20 rebounds, two blocks and an assist in the Cougars’ first Big 12 Conference road victory over Cincinnati, 69-57.
Gustin currently leads the country in four statistical categories including rebounds per game at 15.4, double-doubles with 23 in 25 games, total rebounds with 384 on the year and defensive rebounds per game at 10.4. Her 10.4 defensive rebounds per game alone would rank in the top 20 of total rebounds per game. Gustin also ranks third in offensive rebounds at 5.0 per game.
Brigham Young, 14-11 overall and 4-8 in Big 12 play, returns to action on Feb. 13 at UCF, followed by a home game against Kansas on Feb. 17.
Claira McGowan, Lipscomb
Junior guard Claira McGowan led Lipscomb to two wins and set the program's NCAA single-game scoring record, putting up 37 points in the Bisons' 94-82 double overtime win over North Florida on Saturday afternoon.
McGowan averaged 27 points and 10 rebounds over the two games as Lipscomb defeated Jacksonville (58-52) and North Florida. She logged her first career double-double against the Dolphins with 17 points and 11 rebounds. She shot 55 percent from the floor and 87 percent from the charity stripe on the week (21-of-24).
On the season, the Murfreesboro, Tennessee, native averages nearly 16 points per game and leads the team with 5.5 rebounds per outing. She is shooting 41 percent in conference play and has gotten to the line 65 times, converting on 81 percent of her attempts.
Lipscomb, 14-10 overall and 7-4 in Atlantic Sun Conference play, will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 17, at home against Austin Peay.
Angel Reese, LSU
LSU’s Angel Reese had two dominant performances, scoring a combined 42 points with 35 rebounds as the Tigers rolled to wins at Vanderbilt and against Alabama.
In LSU’s win at Vanderbilt last Thursday, Reese came out strong with 8 points and 8 rebounds in the first quarter. She finished the game with 15 points and 16 rebounds as LSU won, 85-62.
On Sunday against Alabama, Reese was again making plays all over the floor. She finished the game with 27 points, 19 rebounds and six assists. It marked her eighth game since coming to LSU over the past two seasons with 25-plus points and 10-plus rebounds, the most in the NCAA during that span. It was her third 20-15-5 game. No other women’s basketball player over the past 25 seasons has had multiple 20-15-5 games, per ESPN. Reese now has 15 double-doubles on the season, tied for No. 6 in the NCAA. She has scored in double figures in all 57 games of her LSU career.
Reese is averaging 19.5 points this season (No. 2 in the Southeastern Conference and No. 28 in NCAA) and 12.6 rebounds (No. 1 in SEC, No. 2 in NCAA) per game.
LSU, 21-4 overall and 8-3 in the SEC, has the week off before returning to action Feb. 19 at Texas A&M.
Jaz Shelley, Nebraska
Jaz Shelley, scored 33 points in leading Nebraska to a pair of wins last week, including 23 points, three rebounds and five assists in Nebraska's 82-79 come-from-behind home upset of No. 2 Iowa on Sunday afternoon.
In the win over Iowa, the 5-9 graduate guard from Moe, Australia, completed Nebraska's rally from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit by scoring Nebraska's final seven points. Her three-pointer with 31 seconds left gave the Huskers their first lead of the game at 78-77, before sealing the victory with four clutch free throws in the final 20 seconds. For the game, Shelley knocked down 5-of-10 three-pointers.
Shelley opened the week with 10 points, six rebounds and four assists in a 65-59 road win at Michigan to complete a season series sweep of the Wolverines.
For the week, Shelley averaged 16.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists while hitting 11-of-22 shots from the field, including 7-of-15 three-pointers. She is averaging 12.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and team bests of 5.1 assists and 1.8 steals on the season.
Nebraska, 16-8 overall and 8-5 in Big Ten Conference play, returns to Big Ten road action on Feb. 14 when the Huskers travel to Columbus to take on No. 2 Ohio State.
