LA GRANDE, Ore. – The 13th-ranked EOU women's basketball team have earned a spot in the finals of the 2016-17 Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Tournament, presented by U.S. Bank thanks to a 29-point victory over No. 24 Oregon Tech Friday night, at Quinn Coliseum.
 
Maya Ah You (Dias) stuffed the stat sheet scoring 17 with eight rebounds while dishing out five assists. Junior guard Reece Bauer chipped in 12 points and snagged six boards. Junior forward Mariah Swanson and senior forward Ashley Knight added eight points apiece to the mix coming off the bench.
 
Carly McIsaac netted a game-best 18 with two blocks for OIT.
 
The first frame for both teams were all about runs. After EOU marched out to an 8-1 lead, the Owls responded right back ending the period on a 7-4 spurt but still trailed the Mountaineers, 12-8 after one.
 
In the second period, Ah You (Dias) exploded for EOU (27-4) scoring the first seven points and finished the period with 13. The Mountaineers outscored the Owls (24-8) 16-8 in the frame and held them to only 2-of-11 from the field as EOU headed into the locker room with a 28-16 advantage at the intermission.
 
Senior guard Donniesha Webber drilled a trey to start the third period which ignited an 8-2 run before the Owls were forced to call a timeout. The guard finished with six points in 13 minutes of action. Over the next four-plus minutes, Bauer and Knight combined for eight points and gave EOU the largest lead of the game, 29, with just under two minutes left in the stanza. Despite outscoring the Owls 25-15, OIT ended the period on a 10-3 spurt but trailed 53-31 going into the fourth.
 
The third period was one of the most efficient 10 minutes that Mountaineers played. The team went 5-of-6 from beyond the arc and shot 64.3 percent (9-of-14) in total from the floor with eight assists being credited on those nine shots made.
 
In the fourth period, shots continued to fall for EOU as the team shot 7-of-13 from the floor outscoring OIT 17-10, to seal the triumph and earn a spot in CCC tournament finals.
 
Since the Blue and Gold already have the automatic qualifier, they will travel to Ashland, Ore., Monday to face Southern Oregon, who with a win tonight over C of I, have clinched the runner-up spot in the conference and a trip to the NAIA Championships.  
 
BY THE NUMBERS
13 – Points in the third period of Ah You (Dias)  
45.5 – Percentage EOU shot from the floor tonight.
10 – Three-pointers made for the Blue and Gold. 
 
UP NEXT
EOU travels to Ashland, Ore., to face SOU in the CCC finals at 7 p.m.
 
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