Sixteen teams are still dancing in the women’s basketball NCAA Tournament, and one of them is No. 3-seed Oregon State. Making their first NCAA Tournament appearance in three years, and just the sixth Sweet 16 appearance in program history, the Beavers have advanced past Eastern Washington (73-51) and Nebraska (61-51) into the second weekend, in large part thanks to the play of 6-foot-4 sophomore forward Raegan Beers.
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Beers has powered Oregon State all season long, averaging 17.2 points on 66.3% shooting, while snagging 10.2 rebounds per game and leading the Beavers in many major statistical categories. Beers’ impressive second season in Corvallis included three 27-point nights as well as a 20-rebound performance against Arizona on Jan. 12. For her efforts, she was named a third-team AP All-American this season.
Beers continues to impress in March, even playing with a mask due to a broken nose she sustained on Feb. 16.
She’s posted 29 points and 15 rebounds in just 47 minutes of game action through the Beavers’ two tournament wins. Now in the Sweet 16, she and her teammates face their biggest test yet: a matchup against No. 2-seed and ACC Tournament-champion Notre Dame in Albany, New York (Friday at 2:30 p.m. ET).
America, meet @RaeganBeers 😎
19 points (8/11 FG) and 9 rebounds in just 22 minutes. #GoBeavs pic.twitter.com/SxLmuAJn29
— Oregon State WBB (@BeaverWBB) March 23, 2024
This season marks the first time since 2019 that Oregon State has made the Sweet 16. A win would put the Beavers one game away from its second Final Four in program history (the first was 2016), and they will need every bit of Beers’ muscle down low to get there.
It’s a good thing that strength and physicality come naturally to Beers. Much of her childhood growing up in Littleton, Colorado, consisted of basketball battles in the Beers family driveway with her two brothers Rocky and Rowdy — both of whom play football at Florida International — as well as her younger sister Rylie. Even her parents, Ike and Kari, were all-state high school basketball players in Illinois.
Raegan’s time at Valor Christian High School in the Denver area allowed her to refine those basketball abilities at the state’s highest level of competition and showcase them for college coaches across the nation. She helped Valor win the state championship in 2021 and became a five-star recruit, McDonald’s All-American and Jordan Brand Classic All-American.
But her experience at Valor Christian was formative for reasons far more important than just basketball.
“Valor has gifted me the opportunity to learn how to integrate my faith in my sport,” she said, according to the private Christian school’s website. “I have learned many lessons, but one especially has had a huge impact on my life. My whole life I have been doing everything from basketball to school; every day I have done these things for God. Instead of doing things for God, we must do them with Him.
“God desires to be in our lives with us through the good and bad. I strive to be with God each practice, each test, every day of my life. I am so excited about where this new view of God will take me in the future and I can’t wait for others who discover this amazing truth through their time at Valor.”
Beers has on her X profile a photo that says, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made,” echoing the Bible verse Psalm 139:14. She also says, “I am His” and lists Isaiah 43:1 in her Instagram bio. The verse reads, “But now, this is what the Lord says — he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.'”
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Even as Beers and her teammates get ready for a bruising clash with the Fighting Irish on Friday, she can rest secure in God, knowing that He gives rest to His children.
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