BOX SCORE
PORTLAND, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon University women's basketball team fell at Concordia University in the semifinals of the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament Friday, 70-65.
The top-seeded Cavaliers held off a rally by sixth-seeded EOU behind a 48-28 rebound advantage. The Mountaineers (19-10) have their season ended in their 10th straight postseason.
Eastern finished with four players scoring in double figures led by
Nicole Redd's 19 points. The freshman finished 6 of 8 from the field, including 5 of 7 from behind the perimeter.
Shaylee Nielsen added 14 points, while
Rosebud Guthrie had 11, and
Kelsea Hurliman chipped in 10 points.
Samantha Flett threw a team-high four assists, and
Kyle Miller grabbed five rebounds.
As a team, the Mountaineers finished with 28 total rebounds and Concordia had 23 offensive rebounds. Second chance points for the Cavaliers plagued EOU, especially in the first half where CU had an 18-8 advantage in second chance points and a 20-4 advantage in points in the paint.
Concordia jumped out to a 16-2 lead to begin the game behind a 12-0 run. Eastern closed the gap with a 14-4 run fueled by a Redd three-pointer. Rachel Scarpelli and CU answered with a three of their own to begin a 10-0 run to stretch the lead back to 14 points. The Mountaineers then went on an 8-0 run to make the margin, 30-24, with 4:38 left in the first half. The Cavaliers closed the string of runs and took a 9-0 run to their largest lead of the game at 15 points.
EOU trailed at the half, 44-33, and began the second half with a Hurliman three-pointer. Trailing 49-36, Eastern Oregon scored 10 of the next 12 points to shrink the lead to five points, and the Mountaineers hung close the rest of the way.
Redd hit a three-pointer to make it a four-point game at 59-55 with 11:07 to play. Concordia scored five-straight to stretch it back to nine points, but Hurliman's layup pulled the Mountaineers within three at 66-63 with 3:13 remaining. Danielle Clauson hit a pair of free throws, but Miller's jumper at the other end maintained the one-possession game going into the final minute of play.
Nielsen missed a three-pointer with 39 seconds left that would have tied the game, and Courtney May hit a pair of clutch free throws with 23 seconds to play to reach the final score of 70-65. Nielsen missed another three-pointer with 10 seconds to play, and the ball fell out of bounds to the Cavaliers to clinch the victory.
Clauson finished with a game-high 20 points and added seven rebounds and two blocks. May had 15 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Scarpelli totaled 17 points and Megan Padilla added 10 for Concordia.
The Mountaineers shot 39 percent from the field, made 9 of 23 from behind the arc, and 8 of 14 from the free-throw line. Concordia finished shooting 45 percent from the field, 5 for 15 from three-point range, and 9 of 13 from the free-throw line.
EOU finishes the season with a new school record of three-pointers made in a single season with 266 in 2010-11. The Mountaineers close the season top in the nation in three-point field goal percentage shooting 39 percent from behind the perimeter. Eastern was fifth in NAIA Div. 2 in three-pointers made per game with an average of nine per contest.
Concordia (23-9) hosts The College of Idaho in Cascade Conference tournament championships Monday. The fourth-seeded Lady Yotes upset second seed Corban on the road to grab the second automatic bid from the Cascade Conference to the national tournament.
