CORVALLIS -- Tara VanDerveer stepped onto a podium underneath Gill Coliseum on Friday for her postgame interview wearing a smile and, on her hands, a bag of ice.

"My hand swelled," the Stanford coach said after her 1,027th victory. "I had a lot to clap about."

Minutes later, Oregon State coach Scott Rueck entered the room with a glance at the box score and a scowl.

"We've worked too hard to get to this point to be soft," Rueck said.

Pushed around all night and unable to answer at the start and finish, it was No. 16 Oregon State that needed the ice after a 60-57 loss to No. 24 Stanford at Gill Coliseum.

Just four teams in the country grab more defensive rebounds than Oregon State, yet Stanford made the Beavers appear pedestrian on the glass with 17 offensive rebounds that led to 21 second-chance points.

Oregon State has allowed more offensive rebounds than that just twice this season, and Rueck called his team's rebounding "ridiculous" and "disappointing, because that's an area where we've been pretty good throughout this season.

"And tonight, we lacked discipline in that area."

With fewer offensive possessions, Oregon State needed to be extra-efficient shooting, yet its stars were held in check -- OSU shot 40.4 percent overall, while Stanford shot 38.3 -- and the last of its 11 turnovers doomed a final rally.

Trailing by three with the ball and 7 seconds remaining, Oregon State's inbound pass from Kat Tudor intended for Mikayla Pivec was intercepted in stride by DiJonai Carrington, who ran out the clock as 5,791 fans began a slow walk toward the exits.

The loss puts any hope of a fourth consecutive Pac-12 women's hoops title for Oregon State (16-6, 7-4 Pac-12), already long, effectively on life support with seven regular-season games remaining.

The inside-outside duo of OSU post Marie Gulich and shooting guard Kat Tudor, two of the conference's best shooters, were held to a total of seven points, 23 fewer than their combined season averages.

Katie McWilliams scored a team-high 16 points, and Pivec added 15. Brittany McPhee scored a game-high 18 points.

"We got wide-open looks all night," Rueck said. "We were more open tonight than we've been a lot. ... We just didn't shoot the three like we needed to."

The Beavers shot 6 of 22 from three-point distance, their lowest percentage since Jan. 12 and 16 percentage points lower than their conference-leading season-average. Tudor took just two shots, and none from behind the arc, with Stanford's Kiana Williams staying glued to her side.

"We know we can't leave her open," VanDerveer said. "We just said, hey, if you're guarding her and she makes a three, you come out. So (Williams) wanted to play."

During an ugly start that hushed the typically raucous Gill Coliseum, Oregon State missed its first seven shots and Rueck was assessed a technical for arguing a foul on Gulich, who had been reaching for a rebound.

"I'm trying to protect my post player from getting bad calls made against her," he said. "I see it week after week."

OSU trailed 11-0 four minutes into the first quarter and, considering any comeback would come against the conference's best defense, the deficit felt even more dire than the score indicated.

Stanford (15-8, 9-2) took away Gulich, whose 68 percent shooting leads the conference, by sending a second (and sometimes third) defender whenever she caught a pass near the basket. But on Oregon State's next eight possessions McWilliams made three three-pointers as OSU looked to the perimeter for its points: Taylor Kalmer's three-pointer from the top of the arc midway into the second quarter tied the score at 23-23.

McWilliams made 4 of 9 three-pointers -- while the rest of her team made a combined 2 of 13.

Neither team found traction entering halftime. After Kalmer's three, Oregon State turned the ball over on four of its next five possessions while Stanford made just three of its 16 attempts in the second quarter.

At halftime, the Cardinal's lead was down to one, 28-27. It disappeared quickly.

Pivec's layup and free throw on the third quarter's opening possession pushed OSU ahead by two, and was followed by her close-range jumper and a layup by teammate Taya Corosdale on the next two trips.

Stanford, as it so often does, had an answer. McPhee's jumper, layup and jumper on three consecutive possessions late in the third quarter capped a 17-2 run that pushed the Cardinal into a 47-40 lead entering the fourth quarter.

"The way they were playing the screens, they were allowing jump shots and Ki is money off of that screen, Brit is money off of that screen," VanDerveer said. "We hadn't been doing that early in the game. That kind of got us going."

Stanford's lead grew to nine with less than four minutes remaining in the game before another McWilliams three cut it down to three with 2:25 remaining.

With 19.4 seconds left, Stanford point guard Marta Sniezek's running righty layup barely avoided a shot-clock violation and Rueck called a timeout down two.

McWilliams, whose court vision has been called the best that Rueck has ever coached, lobbed an arcing pass from out of bounds at midcourt toward the hoop and into Gulich's arms on a set play designed to get a quick basket. But her layup amid long-armed pressure -- and shot at difficult angle underneath the basket -- hit iron.

Sniezek missed both free throws but the second was rebounded by her teammate, Alanna Smith, who got the ball to McPhee. She made one of her two free throws to set up a final play with seven seconds left and Stanford up three.

"Rebounding, rebounding, rebounding," VanDerveer said. "That's what I talked to our team about before the game. We've got to get on the glass, and there was no bigger rebound than the rebound on the free throw that Alanna got."

And there was no bigger turnover than the Oregon State pass that followed. As Pivec ran toward the three-point line off of a screen, she didn't get enough separation from Carrington, who swooped in front for the game-ending play.

"If we get a better screen and complete that pass," Rueck said, "we had some magic in store for you guys."

The Beavers next host Cal at 1 p.m. Sunday.

-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com

@andrewgreif