Southern Oregon Knocks Off Northwest
KIRKLAND, WA – Southern Oregon came back from a 5 point half time deficit and handed Northwest U. its 11th straight defeat tonight, 84-70, in Cascade Conference play.
Southern came out pressuring the Eagles right from start forcing the Eagles into eight turnovers in the first 4:36 of the contest and jumping out to a 12-3 lead. But Northwest would settle down and Erika Hornyak, playing in her first game after a two game absence, tied the score at 12 with her 3 point basket at the 13:01 mark. SOU went on a 6-0 run to break the tie and lead 18-12, but another run by NU and another 3 pointer by Hornyak would knot the score at 20-20 with 10:32 to go in the half. With SOU up 32-31 with 4:32 left in the half, the Eagles went on another 10-2 run to lead 41-34 with 1:52 to go and would take a 41-36 lead into the locker room.
The Eagles remained in the lead 5:59 into the second half but Southern Oregon’s Jacki Speer nailed a jumper to tie the game at 47 all with 14:01 left in the game. With another tie and lead change, SOU took the lead for good with 11:38 remaining in the game with Kellyn Cooper’s basket making the score 51-49. Chelsey Muri put the Raiders up by 14 with her bucket with 6:53 left in the contest as SOU would cruise to their 18th win of the season.
Brittany Bowsher (Jr., Issaquah, WA) led Northwest U. (2-17, 1-10 CCC) with 18 points. Teammate Erika Hornyak (Fr., Everett, WA) scored 16 points while guard Rachel Travis (Jr., North Bend, WA) added another 14 points on the night.
Southern Oregon (18-3, 9-2 CCC) was led by Jacki Speer (So., Centralia, WA) who scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the double-double. Senior Chelsey Muri (Monroe, WA) dropped in 16 points for the Raiders from Ashland, Oregon. Whitney Scott (So., Tumwater, WA) scored another 10 points for SOU. SOU out rebounded NU, 44-39 including 14 offensive rebounds.
Northwest remains at home on Saturday night as they host Oregon Tech in Kirkland while Southern Oregon travels to Olympia to take on The Evergreen State College. Both games are slated for a 5:30 p.m. start.