TUCSON — Oregon State arrived at the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics South Central Regional Championships needing to finish in the top two to advance to the national title meet.

The Beavers did — by just 0.05 of a point.

Second-seeded and eighth-ranked Oregon State scored 196.075 points to finish second Saturday night at the McKale Center at the University of Arizona. Third-seeded and 15th-ranked Arizona totaled 196.025.

Only the top two teams in each regional advance to the NCAA Championships, April 26-28 in Salt Lake City.

“We knew a win wouldn’t be easy because Arizona is a really good team,” Oregon State sophomore Tasha Smith said. “It feels good.”

Fourth-ranked Stanford won with 196.600 points.

“I’m really proud of the fight they had all through the evening,” Oregon State coach Tanya Chaplin said of her team, which clinched its second consecutive berth to the NCAA meet. “We knew this was not going to be an easy meet. Regionals never is. It’s going to come down to the last event, and both Arizona and Oregon State did a phenomenal job all night.”

The Beavers scored their highest point total (49.275) on the floor exercise.

“They were solid all the way through. They were clean all the way through,” Chaplin said.

Smith, an All-American, won the event with a score of 9.925, helping Oregon State clinch the meet. She finished third in the all-around.

“I was the last one to go, and I knew I had to hit to be able for us to pass Arizona,” Smith said. “I just kept that in mind, and my team was behind me.

“We want to prove that we deserve to be at nationals.”

Said Chaplin of Smith: “She did a great job.”

The Beavers held off Arizona, despite the Wildcats posting a 49.425 on their final event, the beam. That score ranks second all-time in Arizona history and was highest among the six teams at the regional.

“They did a phenomenal job,” Chaplin said.

“There were three fabulous teams here,” she added. “It’s too bad one has to stay home.”

Before breaking through last season, the Beavers had been that third team more often than not in recent years, missing the NCAAs by .050 in 2004 and .025 in 2003.

Oregon State lost to Arizona in a dual meet in January and finished ahead of the Wildcats for third at the Pac-10 championships.