LA GRANDE, Ore. -- The No. 20 Eastern Oregon University women's basketball team looks to continue its great start in Southern Oregon this weekend.

ABOUT THE RAIDERS
Southern Oregon (7-6) (1-1) crawls into the weekend one game over .500 after being picked second in the Cascade Conference preseason coaches' poll. The Raiders have played a strength of schedule ranked 99th in NAIA Div. 2 so far this season. Lynn Kennedy is in sixth year coaching SOU, and returned three starters from last season's 20-11 finish. Whitney Scott leads Southern averaging 12.15 points per game. The Raiders are coming off of a 67-57 loss to William Jessup.

ABOUT THE LADY OWLS
OIT (8-6) (0-2) rides a two-game winning streak into the weekend after taking the Oregon Tech Classic title. The Owls knocked off William Jessup and Cal Maritime on consecutive nights last weekend. Tech opened CCC play two weeks ago and left a road trip to Portland empty-handed after losses at Concordia and Warner Pacific. The Owls were picked seventh in the conference preseason poll. Senior Brittany Cherry leads OIT averaging 13.86 points, 8.07 rebounds, 3.79 assists per game. She scored 50 points in three games versus EOU last year, including 21 in the game at Tech.

LAST TIME OUT
The No. 24 Mountaineers had little trouble from Linfield College last Sunday in La Grande, 66-45. EOU (10-1) (2-0) led NCAA Div. 3 Linfield College by as many as 31 points in the game. A Stevie Isaac free throw with 7:35 remaining the game gave EOU a 59-28 advantage. The Wildcats led 4-0 to begin the game, and had their last lead, 8-7, at the 13:38 mark of the first half. Eastern then went on a 29-7 run to finish the half, and take a 36-15 lead into the locker room at halftime. The gap was closed to 19 points twice in the second half. Kyle Miller led Eastern to its seventh straight win with a game-high 11 points. The junior scored all of her points in the first half. Shaylee Nielsen and Rosebud Guthrie each came off of the bench to score 10 points and grab six rebounds.

NEW START TIMES FOR 2010-11
A new doubleheader format featuring men's and women's teams alternating time slots in conference play headlines the release of the 2010-11 Cascade Collegiate Conference men's and women's basketball schedules, CCC commissioner Dave Haglund announced.
The first half concludes Jan. 15; the second half runs from Jan. 21 to Feb. 19.
The CCC recently voted to modify the structure of its conference doubleheaders, which historically have featured the women playing at 5:30 p.m. followed by the men at 7:30 p.m. Beginning with the upcoming campaign, genders will split the two time slots. In the first half of conference play in 2010-11, men will play at 5:30 p.m. and women at 7:30 p.m.; in the second half, the genders will flip time slots. Men's and women's teams will flip their playing orders on a yearly basis.

LONG DISTANCE SPECIALISTS
The Mountaineers are top in the nation in three-point percentage shooting 44 percent from behind the perimeter. EOU is also first in NAIA Div. 2 holding opponents to 19 percent shooting from behind the arc.
Eastern has won its games by an average of 25 points. Eastern Oregon is averaging 10 three-pointers per game, which is fourth in NAIA Div. 2.
Nicole Redd and Kelsea Hurliman are 10th and 11th in the country in three-point field goal percentage.

UNSELFISH MOUNTIES
Eastern is sixth in NAIA Div. 2 averaging 18.3 assists per game. The Mountaineers have dished out 202 assists this year. EOU has a turnover margin of +3.5 and is sixth in the country in assist to turnover ratio. Alyssa Garro is fifth in the nation in assist to turnover ratio at 3.12.

DEADLY DEFENSE
Eastern has stymied its opponents in 2010-11. No opponent has shot over 50 percent from the field in a game versus the Mountaineers this season. It's top ranked in NAIA Div. 2 defense from behind the perimeter highlights the EOU defensive honors. Eastern is first in the conference in points allowed per game (51.9), field goal percentage defense (.333), three-point field goal percentage (.197), and is second in defensive rebounds (29.64).

BACK IN NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
The Eastern Oregon University women's basketball team returns to the NAIA Div. 2 Top 25 at No. 24. EOU was last in the poll at No. 24 on Feb. 27, 2008. The Mountaineers received 100 votes in Monday's poll. EOU was one spot out of the Top 25 with 78 points last week. Eastern was one spot from cracking the top 25 poll last season on Jan. 11, 2010. It was the highest they appeared in the poll. Concordia was the only other Cascade Collegiate Conference team in the poll at No. 16.

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