EOU, SOU Share CCC Women's Hoop Crown; Tourney Pairings Set
PORTLAND, Ore. – Eastern Oregon and Southern Oregon posted victories Saturday night in their regular season finales to finish the Cascade Conference season with identical 17-3 records and share the 2007-08 CCC crown. The Mountaineers, though, earned the top seed in the CCC’s postseason tournament and an automatic bid to the NAIA Tournament March 12-18 by edging the Raiders in the league’s tiebreaker formula. The league’s second automatic berth to the NAIA tournament will go to the CCC tournament champion (or runner-up, if EOU wins the tourney title). The CCC tournament gets underway Tuesday.
It took the second tiebreaker to determine the league’s No. 1 seed for the conference tournament. The first tiebreaker, head-to-head results, didn’t resolve the matter since EOU and SOU split their two-game regular-season series. The Mountaineers, however, won the second tiebreaker by having a superior conference record vs. CCC teams which finished .500 or better in league play. EOU was 6-2 in such games, SOU was 5-3.
Still, both EOU and SOU secured first-round home games for the league tournament. The Mountaineers will play host to No. 8 seed Cascade, while the Raiders will entertain first-year league member and No. 7 seed Northwest Christian. In other first-round matchups, No. 3 seed College of Idaho will host No. 6 seed Evergreen, and No. 4 seed Oregon Tech will host No. 5 seed Concordia.
College of Idaho secured the No. 3 seed over Oregon Tech by sweeping its league series with the Owls. Evergreen won the tiebreaker with Northwest Christian for the No. 6 seed by having a better record vs. CCC teams which finished .500 or better in league play (3-7 compared to 1-9 for NCC). Evergreen and NCC had split their season series.
CCC Women’s Basketball Tournament Pairings
Tuesday, Feb. 26 (Quarterfinals)
#8 seed Cascade at #1 seed Eastern Oregon, 7:30 p.m.
#7 seed Northwest Christian at #2 seed Southern Oregon, 7:30 p.m.
#6 seed Evergreen at #3 seed College of Idaho, 7:30 p.m.
#5 seed Concordia at #4 seed Oregon Tech, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 29 (Semifinals)
Lowest remaining seed at highest remaining seed, 7:30 p.m.
Second lowest remaining seed at second highest remaining seed, 7:30 p.m.
Monday, March 3 (Championship)
Lowest seed at highest seed, 7:30 p.m.