Basketball became an intercollegiate sport for women at OSU in 1972. Lagastee was a four-sport athlete at OSU – she also played field hockey and softball, and was on the track and field team.
Spoelstra played at OSU for two seasons, 1982 and 1983, earning second team All-American honors in 1983. She returned to OSU in 1995 to inherit basketball head coaching duties from her former coach, Aki Hill. Spoelstra coached the team for ten seasons, compiling an overall record of 133 wins and 158 losses. Her teams played in the 1996 NCAA tournament and in the WNIT from 2001 to 2004. She received Pac-10 coach of the year honors in 2000, and was named to the OSU Sports Hall of Fame in 1994
Hill coached seventeen seasons at Oregon State (1978-79 to 1994-95), compiling a record of 274 wins and 206 losses. In 1980 her team went 20-8 and won the NIT championship; six of her teams had twenty or more wins. Four of Hill’s teams played in the NCAA tournament. Also pictured are players Jan Martin and Robyn Clark. Both Martin and Clark scored more than 1,000 points during their careers at OSU. Clark is also in the OSU top ten in career rebounds and steals. This photo appeared in the March 1980 Oregon Stater.
Ragland received All-American honorable mention honors in 2001 and 2002, and was the Pac-10 Player of the year in 2001. She led the Pac-10 in scoring in 2002 at 19.9 points per game. She was the first OSU player selected in the WNBA draft, taken as the 28th overall pick in 2002 by the Seattle Storm. This photo appeared in the 2002 Beaver yearbook.
Kostic played at OSU from 1992 to 1996, and led the Beavers to three consecutive NCAA playoff appearances in 1994, 1995 and 1996. Kostic was twice named Pac-10 player of the year (1995 and 1996), was All-Conference all four years, and was a consensus All-American in 1996. She was the Pac-10 player of the week on eight occasions, more than any other player, and was inducted into the OSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005. She is the current OSU recordholder for career points (2,349) and rebounds (1,001). After leaving OSU, Kostic played professionally in the ABL and WNBA as well as overseas.
The team is posing with the trophy that they earned by winning the Women's National Invitational Tournament. Identified from left to right are: Ross Cook (Asst. Coach); Dennis Russel (trainer); Lori Brostrom, Betty Collings, Kathy Riel, Robyn Clark, Jan Martin, Carol Menken, Pam Mollet, Cheri Hoppes, Margy Becker, Debbie Meeker, Karen McDonald, and Aki Hill (Head Coach).
Menken earned First Team All-American status in 1981 and played on the Olympic gold medal winning 1984 United States women’s basketball team. She played for OSU from 1979 to 1981 and set several school records, some of which still stand.
Hoover, an OAC graduate in the Class of 1901, married Jay Bowerman, a future governor of Oregon, and was the mother of University of Oregon track coach and Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman. While at OAC, she played on the women’s basketball team. She returned to OAC to earn a second degree in home economics in 1916, and taught school for a number of years.
Carol Menken, All-American center, shoots the basketball during the Simon Fraser University game against Oregon State University. The 1980-1981 Beaver team finished the year with a 21-6 record.