Box Score LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Southern Oregon University Raiders shot 49 percent from the floor for the game as SOU defeated Eastern Oregon University, 80-62, Friday night at Quinn Coliseum to advance to the CCC Tournament Championship presented by U.S. Bank.
Brittney Newcomb led all scorers with 29 points.
Kassy Larson followed for EOU with 10 points. Carly Meister led Southern Oregon as she scored 24 points, while teammate Allison Gida scored 20 points.
The Raiders, of Southern, Oregon jumped out to an early lead against EOU. SOU led by seven points, 13-6, after a jumper by Meister. Eastern mounted a small comeback after a Newcomb layup EOU found themselves down three points, 13-10.
Eastern Oregon continued to battle but each time the Mountaineers got within two points, Southern Oregon answered with a run to extend its lead. After a Kristen Schoenheer layup the Raiders led EOU, 30-22, with 7:11 left in the first half.
Trailing by eight points, EOU mounted a comeback against the Raiders .
Madeline Laan cut the lead down to one point, 33-32, with 4:39 left in the half. However, the Raiders answered by closing the half on an 8-2 run to take a seven point lead, 41-34, at halftime.
The Raiders continued to add to its lead in the second half of the contest. Within the first four minutes of the second half, Southern Oregon had grown its lead to 15 points, 53-38, after a jumper by Autumn Durand.
As the Mountaineers offense, which shot 28 percent in the second half, continued to struggle the Raiders were just starting to heat up. SOU grew the lead to 17 points, 61-44, with 11 minutes to go in the game on a jumper by Schoenherr jumper.
Southern Oregon extended its lead to as many as 21 points, 67-46, with 8:48 to go in the game. EOU slowly started to mount a comeback as they went on a 14-2 run to trim the lead down to nine points, 69-60.
After trimming it to nine points, the Raiders grew the lead back to double figures and the Mountaineers had no answer. In the last 4:40 of the game, the Mountaineers were outscored 11-2 and the Raiders of Southern Oregon came away with an 80-62 win.
The Raiders return to action on Monday, March 3 when they face Oregon Tech in the CCC Championship. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. EOU returns to action at the National Championship in Sioux City, Iowa. The bracket for the NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship will be released Wed. March 5 at 5 p.m. PT.
