LA GRANDE, Ore. – A strong second half by the Corban University Warriors, which saw them shoot 43 percent in the second half, pushed the No. 21 Eastern Oregon University Mountaineers to overtime. EOU outscored the Warriors 14-5 in overtime to come away with a 67-58 victory on Friday night at Quinn Coliseum.
 
Leading the way for the Mountaineers (21-5, 13-2 CCC) was Airashay Rogers and Maya Ah You with 18 apiece. Kassy Larson rounded out the double figure scorers with 10 points. Nikki Osborne and Larson led the team with nine rebounds apiece.
 
Tara Van Weerdhuizen led the Warriors (17-11, 11-5 CCC) with a game-high 22 points and 13 rebounds. Jade Lowery added 12 points for the Warriors, who had their three game winning streak snapped.  
 
Over the first five minutes of the contest, the Mountaineers looked as if they were going to start to pull away from Corban. Eastern Oregon opened the game by scoring nine of the first 11 points of the game, taking a 9-2 lead, with 15 minutes to go in the half.
 
Corban slowly started to come back and cut the Mountaineers lead to three, 9-6, after a pair of free throws by Chris Carlson. After their lead was cut to three points, EOU responded by extending the lead back to eight points, 16-8.
 
The Warriors continued to battle and cut the Mountaineers lead down to four points, 18-14, after a jumper by Van Weerdhuizen. EOU, again, responded by extending their lead back to double figures after a 3-pointer by Maloree Moss.
 
After EOU increased their lead to double figures, Corban did not cut the lead to single digits, again, in the first half. With two minutes to play in the half, Morgan Freeman put EOU ahead by 12, 33-21. Neither team would score another basket the rest of the half and EOU took that lead into halftime.
 
Corban came out of halftime with their offense clicking as they started to chip away at the Mountaineers' lead, bringing EOU's lead down to six points. The Mountaineers answered by scoring the next seven points extending their lead back to 13, 42-29.
 
Over the next four minutes of the game, the Warriors had the Mountaineers' lead cut to four points, 46-42, after a Sadie Pilgeram 3-pointer. The Warriors stayed close and tied the game at 49-49, with 5:59 left in the half, after another Pilgeram 3-pointer.
 
After the Warriors tied the Mountaineers at 49-49, EOU and Corban combined to score eight points over the last 5:59 of the game. EOU held a two point lead, 53-51, lead with just over a minute to go in the game. Payton Wilcox tied the game at 53-53 with 56 seconds. Both teams had a chance to win the game in regulation, but neither could get a shot to fall and the game went to overtime.
 
In overtime, the Mountaineers took the game over as they scored the first eight points taking a 61-53 lead with 3:11 to go in the half. Corban did not get any closer than six points in the overtime period as EOU outscored the Warriors 14-5 in the extra five minutes. EOU came away with a 67-58 victory.
 
Eastern Oregon returns to action tomorrow, Feb. 14 when they host Northwest Christian University for Senior Night. Corban heads to Caldwell, Idaho to take on College of Idaho.