WBB Preview: Utah State Heads To Oregon State

For the first time in Utah State’s 2025-26 season, two teams with winning records will be facing off as the 2-1 Aggies take on a 3-0 Oregon State squad in Corvallis on Tuesday at Noon (MT).

The Beavers, followed by two other future conference opponents, Gonzaga and Washington State, were picked to top the West Coast Conference this year. So far, they are living up to the preseason hype, putting together a 3-0 record without much room for doubt. They have an average margin of victory of 19, including an 11-point win over a Mountain West team. They beat Corban 86-45, Air Force 60-49, and Illinois 64-59.

With Utah on one end and CSUB and Omaha on the other, the Aggies have seen opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of the level of competition offered at the college level. OSU should be a bit closer to the middle of that spectrum, although a deep, talented, well-coached Oregon State team is certainly on the higher side of competition. Still, this game should be a better bellwether for the Aggies, especially as they prepare for Pac-12 membership.

After the win over Omaha, head coach Wes Brooks talked about the upcoming challenge.

“We’ll celebrate this and then we’ve got a challenge on Tuesday," Brooks said. "We go to a team that beat Illinois last night in Oregon State. They went to the Elite Eight two years ago. But you know what? We’ve got to be really because guess what, we’re going to play them every year from now on out because it’s a Pac-12 foe.”

Players To Know

Tiara Bolden: A native of Eugene, Oregon, Tiara Bolden has been leading the charge for the Beavers this year. Her lowest-scoring game, which, incidentally, came in a 41-point victory over Corban, was worth 13 points. She eclipsed the 20-point mark in each of her next two games and now carries a season average of 20.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 3.0 steals per game.

She is coming off a solid campaign for the Beavers and is putting together an equally solid curtain call. Last season, she played in all 35 games with 31 starts, averaging 26.4 minutes, 8.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. She notched a clip of 31.5 percent from deep and 76.9 percent from the stripe, and scored double digits 10 times.

Lara Alonso-Basurto: Lara Alonso-Basurto is another big scoring threat for Oregon State, though she’s been trending in the wrong direction. She had 14 points, 11, then nine in her first three outings.

While her scoring output had been going down, the 6-3 freshman from Madrid has been getting more efficient. She shot 33.3 percent, 50 percent, then 66.7 percent from the field in those same three games.

With her 14-point debut performance, she was the leading scorer against Corban and was the leading rebounder in that game and the following. She is averaging 11.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 1.3 blocks per game on the year. She has only hit one three-pointer, part of a 1-for-3 shooting debut, and has been doing most of her work inside and at the line, where she is 9 of 12 on the year.

Lizzy Williamson: Another player to watch out for is the 6-5 senior NC State transfer, Lizzy Williamson. After starting her career at Southern Utah and spending three years with the Thunderbirds, she is in her sixth year of college basketball.

Williamson is a big, veteran presence and a reliable force around the rim. She’s shooting at a 64.7 percent clip from the field and although she only has two blocks this year, she is difficult to shoot around and is adept at altering shots.

Her career best was an average of 2.3 blocks per game in 2022-23 at SUU, and she averaged 1.7 the year before. She had a quiet game against Air Force with just four points, but scored 10 in each of her other two games. She has been coming off the bench and is averaging 8.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 1.0 steals per game.