CLAIRE C. LAURENCE/Arizona Daily Wildcat UA sophomore center Shawntinice Polk goes up with the ball during the Wildcats' 23-point win over Oregon State last night.

UA 77 ð OSU 54

After suffering two losses in Los Angeles last weekend, the UA women's basketball team was hungry for a victory, to say the least.

Poor Oregon State.

Arizona (19-7, 11-4 Pacific 10 Conference) shot exactly 50 percent against the Beavers (14-10, 8-7) and played stellar defense en route to a 77-54 victory that extended its home winning streak to 26 games.

"I was really pleased," said head coach Joan Bonvicini. "We were all over the place. Our defense really made our offense."

The defense took the pressure off the Wildcat offense by forcing 16 Beaver turnovers in the first half - 26 for the game - and limiting OSU to just 32 percent shooting (17 of 53).

The Wildcats are generally known as a second-half team, but that was not the case last night. They stopped Oregon State on 10 of its first 12 trips down the floor, and barring a couple of foul shots by forward Hollye Chapman in the closing seconds of the half, would have stopped the Beavers from getting 20 points before halftime.

"They were definitely ready to go," said OSU head coach Judy Spoelstra. "I'm sure after the weekend, they had they came out ready to go."

Natalie Jones scored the first basket of the game, and the Wildcats never lost the lead. They scored on six of their first eight possessions and methodically built on their lead throughout the first half. The UA shot 57.7 percent (20 of 35) in the first to go into halftime up 45-20.

The Wildcats' offensive dominance continued through the start of the second half, as they built up a 66-31 lead, their biggest of the game, midway through the second.

The Beavers began to show some life after some sloppy play by the Wildcats. OSU went on a 13-2 run, bringing the score to 68-44 with 8:45 remaining. But the Beavers would only score seven more points in the game.

With Southern California's loss at Stanford, the Wildcats moved back to second place in the Pac-10, a full game behind the Cardinal.

"For us, this was all about us taking care of business. I think our team was real fired up," Bonvicini said. "We don't want to depend on someone else. We want to take care of us."

Many of the Wildcats shared the scoring load, with four of five starters scoring in double digits. Sophomore center Shawntinice Polk led all scorers with 18 points and added 13 rebounds, four blocks and three steals, in what Bonvicini called Polk's best defensive performance of the season.

Polk, who often finds herself in foul trouble, ended the game with just one foul.

Freshman forward Shannon Hobson matched her career high with 11 points, and sophomore guard Katrina Lindner, a key reserve who put in 20 minutes last night, scored seven points for her career high. Junior guard Dee-Dee Wheeler came one assist shy of a double-double, scoring 12 points.

Senior guard Aimee Grzyb, playing in her next-to-last home game in a Wildcat uniform, put up 15 points and was 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. Grzyb and reserve senior guard Jessica Duger will be honored in a postgame ceremony on "senior day" tomorrow against Oregon.

"It's going to be sad, but it's going to be good," Grzyb said.