SOU coach Lynn Kennedy and the Raiders host Northwest Christian in the first round of the CCC women's basketball tournament Tuesday night in Ashland.
Tip-Off Time! CCC Women's Hoop Tourney Begins Tuesday Night
PORTLAND, Ore. – Eight Cascade Collegiate Conference women’s basketball programs take aim on the league’s second automatic bid to the NAIA national tournament Tuesday night as the CCC’s postseason tournament gets underway at campus sites.
First-round games are scheduled for La Grande, Ashland, Klamath Falls and Caldwell, Idaho.
Tournament semifinals are slated for Friday, with the championship game set for Monday, March 3.
Eastern Oregon, the league’s regular season co-champion, has already secured its trip to Sioux City, Iowa for the national tournament. The Mountaineers captured the automatic bid reserved for the league’s regular season champ by besting co-titlist Southern Oregon in a tiebreaker. The league’s second automatic bid goes to the conference’s postseason tournament champion (or, in the event EOU wins, to the tournament runner-up).
As they have for much of the season, plenty of eyes will be on Ashland, where Southern Oregon hopes to continue its amazing turnaround under the guidance of third-year coach Lynn Kennedy. Inheriting a 4-25 team following the 2004-05 season, Kennedy wasted little time in re-establishing SOU’s hoop fortunes. In his three seasons as head coach, the Raiders have posted records of 12-17, 18-11 and 26-4. The Raiders were the only CCC program ranked in the Top 25 last week, checking in at the No. 22 spot.
The Raiders, who have won 14 of their last 15 games, open tournament play against seventh-seeded Northwest Christian at McNeal Pavilion.
Other first-round matchups find No. 8 seed Cascade visiting Eastern Oregon, No. 6 seed Evergreen at No. 3 seed College of Idaho, and No. 5 seed Concordia traveling to No. 4 seed Oregon Tech. All games tip-off at 7:30 p.m.
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.