SEATTLE — Oregon State’s season is over.

In the second round of the NCAA Tournament, No. 1-seed South Carolina knocked off the No. 9-seed Beavers (23-10, 13-5 Pac-12) Tuesday night. The Gamecocks (27-4, 14-2 SEC) sent the Beavers packing with their 78-69 win.

With Oregon State’s loss, they’ve been eliminated from the tournament, which puts an end to their season. South Carolina will advance to play No. 4-seed North Carolina Sunday.

On Tuesday, South Carolina’s defense was able to slow Oregon State early, and the Gamecocks led for almost all 40 minutes of the game. Their twin towers, 6-foot-4 freshman Alaina Coates and 6-foot-4 junior Elem Ibiam controlled the paint defensively, and they gave sophomore center Ruth Hamblin fits all night.

Hamblin wound up fouling out with 13 minutes still remaining in the second half, and she was held scoreless after shooting 0-for-5 from the floor. She did record seven rebounds and three blocks in limited action.

Additionally, whether it was South Carolina’s defense or simply an off-night, freshman point guard Sydney Wiese was held scoreless for nearly the entire game. Her shot just wasn’t there for her, which is a complete turnaround from Sunday’s first round contest against Middle Tennessee State.

In that game, Wiese set a career-high with 26 points, but she ended Tuesday’s game with just eight. She missed her first 12 attempts from the floor and didn’t score until there were 89 seconds remaining in the game.

“They pressured Syd, and just kept her off balance,” said sophomore guard Jamie Weisner. “Ruth down low, she had some shots she could have made, but (South Carolina is) big. They kind of pushed her off her position. Overall, they forced us to do things we didn’t want to do.”

With Wiese’s shot not falling and South Carolina slowing Hamblin in the paint, the Gamecocks established an early lead. As the game went on, they were able to answer every one of Oregon State’s attempted comebacks. In the second half, OSU never cut the deficit to less than nine points.

“Defensively, they just kept us uncomfortable enough,” said head coach Scott Rueck. “It forced us to miss some shots that we normally make.”

South Carolina was led by junior forward Aleighsa Welch, who scored 21 points and had 11 rebounds. Following closely behind was sophomore guard Tiffany Mitchell, who had 20 points and 10 rebounds with four assists.

“When you’re down on the board, it’s hard to score, and when you’re up on the board, it’s easy to score,” Rueck said. “If we got some shots to fall early, there was a segment in that first half where it was in the balance. Control was in the balance. We were getting the looks that we wanted. We got Ruth some great looks down low. We just didn’t execute.”

With the miscues, the Beavers still stayed competitive throughout the game because of their bench play. Weisner finished with 21 points, and Gabby Hanson ended the night with 16. It was Weisner’s best offensive performance since she broke a bone in her hand back in January.

“I just tried to stay prepared, and I knew I had to step up,” Weisner said. “I just got a lot of my shots off of broken plays and people tripping. That’s what I do. I shoot the ball and try to make my shots.”

She was 6-of-12 from the field, including 5-of-9 from long range. Meanwhile, Hanson was 7-of-13 and 2-of-4 from deep, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficiencies of Hamblin and Wiese.

“(Wiese) is as responsible as anyone for us being here right now — I couldn’t be prouder of that kid for everything she’s done,” Rueck said. “To go out tonight, not to ever hang her head. Did you see it get to her? It didn’t get to her tonight. She just kept playing, leading her team and playing great defense at the other end. She’s handled adversity right all year, she’ll do that again.”

The loss puts a damper on an otherwise fantastic season for OSU. The Beavers finished the season with 24 total wins, which is tied for the most in school history. Their first-round victory against Middle Tennessee State was the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory since 1995.

Individually, Hamblin finished the season as the nation’s top shot blocker. Her 141 blocks are more than any other player in the nation, and she set the all-time Pac-12 record. Additionally, Wiese made 112 3-pointers this season, which is an Oregon State school record.

“It’s been an incredible ride. That’s from the leader looking back. This group is so special.” Rueck said. “Their goal is to inspire. When you use the platform that they have to put smiles on people’s faces, I don’t know how you can do better than what they did.”

Mitch Mahoney, sports reporter

On Twitter @MitchIsHere

sports@dailybarometer.com