COLLEGE HOOPS: Brittney Davis ready to go at OSU

Former Jeff High guard returns from knee surgery as a leader for Beavers

By Jason Vondersmith

The Portland Tribune, Oct 27, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Beaver guard Brittney Davis, from Jefferson High, says Oregon State has improved its inside game and should be more competitive in the Pac-10 this season.

COURTESY OF OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

CORVALLIS – Brittney Davis might be Oregon State's most versatile women's basketball player, and she will be counted on for more than her playing talent.

"My role is to be a vocal leader, an active leader," says Davis, a Jefferson High grad and OSU senior guard. "Talking at practice, leading, bringing people together."

The Beavers, who are starting practice this week, hope to improve on their 12-19 record last season. Coach LaVonda Wagner, after playing with a thin roster in her first two years, has a full complement of players. Davis returns in the backcourt, likely to play mostly the 2 guard and spelling four-year starter Mercedes Fox-Griffin at the point.

Davis sat out eight games last season, then had minor offseason surgery for medial collateral ligament damage in her right knee. She played in two Pac-10 tournament games on the bad knee, scoring 18 points on 6-for-10 shooting in a season-ending loss to Stanford.

"I feel good and ready to go," she says. "I've been working out since June. I feel good and up to speed, back to where I was before I got injured."

The 5-10 Davis started her college career at Minnesota before transferring to Corvallis. She averaged 12.8 points in 23 games last season. She has good games "when I'm in the flow and happen to be hot," and then "I have my nights where I don't play so well and teammates pick up the slack."

Wagner has sported a 20-point-average scorer the past two seasons, but the Beavers should have more balance this year with the likes of Davis, 6-2 senior Tiffany Drucker, 5-11 sophomore Talisa Rhea and 6-3 Idaho transfer Anita Burdick.

"We should do well inside and outside," Davis says. "Last year, we ran offense through guards a lot. We have a big inside game now. We can score from any position.

"We'll do a lot of damage in the Pac-10 this year. We'll have a lot of players that people don't know about."

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