Perhaps it was the lingering effect of playing seven games in a two-week span, or maybe it's an outcome that should be expected when a team from a mid-major conference plays at the Pac-10 level.

Whatever the case, NAU women's basketball coach Laurie Kelly wasn't in the mood for excuses after her team's lackluster effort in a 62-33 loss to Oregon State in the championship game of the NAU Thanksgiving Classic at Rolle Activity Center on Saturday afternoon.

Fresh off their first win — and first home game after five straight road contests to open the season — Kelly expected a spirited showing from her Lumberjacks against the big-time Beavers.

Instead, NAU produced its worst half of the season in the opening 20 minutes Saturday.

"Being in the championship game and coming off a very good game yesterday, I just didn't feel like we had any energy from the get-go," Kelly said. "We got down so fast.

"We played pretty even with them in the second half. Had we played that way in the first half, I think it would've been a much closer game. It just felt like we were never in the game."

Oregon State (4-1) jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead before freshman guard Amy Patton drilled a long pull-up jumper to get NAU (1-6) on the board three-and-a-half minutes into the game.

By that time, however, momentum was already well on the side of the Beavers, who seemed to be a step faster to every loose ball — and there were a lot of those. The Lumberjacks struggled to get open looks and hit just 24 percent (6 of 25) of their shots in the first half.

Conversely, Oregon State knocked down 44.4 percent of its shots in the first half, and things seemed to go well even when the Beavers missed as 10 offensive rebounds led to 14 second-chance points before intermission.

"They had really good defense, they were pretty fast on what they did," said Patton, who led NAU with 14 points and 10 rebounds. "I guess they were just getting over screens and we couldn't find the bottom of the net. It was a hard day for us."

NAU trailed 34-13 at the half, its lowest scoring output in any half this season.

The Lumberjacks turned up the intensity after halftime, though, busting off a 12-3 run early in the second to pull within 15 points, 39-24. Patton had seven points in the spurt, beginning the run with a pair of putbacks and capping it with a 3-pointer.

"At that point, I thought we could get back in this game, absolutely," Kelly said. "I thought we came out and made adjustments … I thought we came out with energy and executed screens. We had a six- or seven-minute stretch where I was really pleased with how we played."

The Beavers quickly restored order, however, ripping off a 12-2 run to open a 25-point advantage, 51-26, with 7:29 remaining in the game and cruised to the victory.

Oregon State guard Talisa Rhea was named tourney MVP despite scoring just 6 points on 3 of 13 shooting against NAU. She posted a season-high 25 points against Belmont the previous night.

Patton and junior forward Jenna Galloway earned all-tourney honors for NAU. Galloway had 12 points in Friday's win over Siena and 8 points Saturday against Oregon State.

Belmont beat Siena 70-60 in the consolation game earlier Saturday afternoon.

Rory Faust can be reached at rfaust@azdailysun.com or 556-2257.