Oregon State pushed its win streak to 9 games, tied for 3rd longest in school history.

Sunday’s game against the Sun Devils could not have gone better for the Beavers, and on Senior Day no less.

With a season-high 5,208 fans in attendance, the Oregon State women’s basketball (21-9, 13-5 Pac-12) routed No. 20 Arizona State (22-8, 11-7) to the tune of 66-43 in the most important game of either team’s season.

Coming into this game, the third seed in the Pac-12 Tournament was on the line and would go to the winner.

Oregon State’s win means it will finish above ASU in the standings, giving it the third seed, which sends OSU into a tie with California (which owns the tie-breaker with OSU) for second place in the conference.

Additionally, it’s the first time since 2003 that Oregon State has beaten a ranked opponent.

“That’s beautiful,” said freshman point guard Sydney Wiese. “We were just focused on our gameplan going into this. We didn’t really want to listen to all the hype — the third place — we tried to forget about it and just go out there and play our game. To hear that afterwards, that we beat a ranked opponent, that we tied for second, it’s incredible.”

The win is also OSU’s ninth in a row, which ties for third-longest in school history and makes Oregon State’s resume that much stronger for an NCAA Tournament bid.

It didn’t come easily, however, despite what the final score might suggest. After a back-and-forth start to the game, Arizona State had managed a three-point lead with 7:19 to go in the first half.

“It took some time to get used to their pressure again,” said junior guard Ali Gibson. “We just had to go back to what we’d practiced all week. We had confidence in the second half, knowing that we could do it because we brought momentum from the first half.”

The Beavers started settling in. More specifically, Wiese started to find her shot.

After missing her first two attempts from the field, Wiese drained three shots from behind the arc during that seven-minute stretch to end the half. It helped the Beavers go on a 17-6 run that established an eight-point, 31-23 lead at the half.

When the second half opened, it too was back-and-forth. Ten minutes in, the Sun Devils were still in striking distance, down only eight points.

But Wiese hit another 3 and sparked another run. Sophomores Deven Hunter and Ruth Hamblin assisted each other on back-to-back-to-back layups, and then Hunter added a free throw to cap a 10-0 run. Up by 18 points, Oregon State was too far ahead for ASU to come back.

The Beavers had four players score in double-figures, but perhaps no one had a bigger game than Hamblin. She scored a game-high 16 points, hauled in a team-high eight rebounds and had a game-high seven blocks, six of which came within the first six minutes of the game.

On the season, Hamblin has swatted 115 shots, which ties the OSU school record for blocks in a season.

Behind her, Wiese had 15 points off five 3-pointers. With those five 3-pointers, Wiese set a Pac-12 record for successful 3-pointers by a freshman in a single season. She has 94 makes on the season, which is the third-most in Pac-12 history.

In Sunday’s game, she also had four rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Gibson scored 13 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block, and Hunter rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points.

For Arizona State, senior guard Deja Mann led the way with 13 points. She was followed closely by freshman forward Kelsey Moos, who had 11.

As a team, it was the Sun Devils’ second-lowest scoring total on the season, and they were held below 26 percent from the field.

During this nine-game winning streak, the Beavers’ defense has been outstanding. They’ve held opponents to 51.4 points per game, which is 10.4 points fewer than their season average.

“We’ve found fun within defense,” Hamblin said. “Like Ali, I think of her scrapping on the floor, and it just gives so much energy. For me, if I can provide blocks, it’s just a momentum-changer.”

Up next for the Beavers is the Pac-12 Tournament, which will be held in Seattle. After OSU’s first-round bye, it will play the winner of Utah vs. Washington.

The Beavers’ first game will be Friday at 8:30 p.m.

Mitch Mahoney, sports reporter

On Twitter @MitchIsHere

sports@dailybarometer.com