Oregon ran Oregon State right out of their own gym on their way to a 86-71 win Saturday at Gill Coliseum. Taylor Lilley led the Ducks in scoring with 23 points but team mates Micaela Cocks (22 pts.) and Amanda Johnson (20 pts., 9 rebounds) had a hand in the damage.

Oregon State's Talisa Rhea led all scorers with 30 points - including a stellar 7/8 from behind the arc - but one of Oregon's trio answered nearly every basket with an answer at the other end of the court.

The Ducks helped their cause greatly by forcing 20 turnovers, good for 22 points in the first of the season's Civil War encounters. The Beavers won both contests last season and won handily at Gill Coliseum.

 ""They are beginning to play like they can win," said head coach Paul Westhead in the way of an explanation. "Then you have to go out and earn each win," he continued. "It's a different feel, they feel like they are going to be successful. So that helps you. It doesn't get you (the win), but it helps you."

The game was tied seven times and there were five lead changes but they were all in the first twenty minutes of play. After Oregon jumped to a quick six point lead, the Beavers clawed their way back to even twelve minutes into the contest.

A three ball from Lilley erased Oregon State's largest lead to knot the game at 28 with six minutes until the break. One minute later Rhea's three gave the Beavers their last lead 31-30, but Cocks immediately retaliated with a bomb and the Ducks expanded their lead to 10 before retiring to the break up by six.

The Ducks came out of the locker room in hurry. Amanda Johnson unloaded a three then Cocks beat the Oregon State defense back for a lay-up. Nia Jackson's steal was converted into another lay-up. Oregon continued running past the OSU defense, Johnson and Taylor taking their turn from up close. The Ducks were up by 13 and in firm control of the game.

Rhea's threes brought the Beavers back to within eight points on two occasions but in each case Oregon rebuilt their lead quickly to double digits.

"I looked at a lot of films and we tried to do our best to stop Talisa Rhea," said Westhead. "Whatever we tried didn't work . she was better than I thought. And I thought she was a handful. She was more than a handful. She is an excellent basketball player."

"Just as long as we make the next shot," was how Taylor Lilley looked at Rhea's fireworks.

Oregon mostly did just that, closing out a 15 point win that improved their conference record to 3-0 (12-3 overall), the program's best since 2000-2001.

"He (Westhead) always talked about earlier in the season how he wants to make winning a habit and he's just starting to see that pattern and seeing that in our team . it's in our mentality," said Cocks.

The desert schools are up next for the Ducks, facing Arizona State on Thursday, then Arizona on Saturday. The Ducks return to McArthur Court to face California (Jan 21, 7:00 pm) and Stanford (Jan 23, 11:00 am).