College of Idaho invades McNeal Pavilion in Ashland Monday night to take on Southern Oregon in the CCC tournament championship game. The winner of the contest earns a berth in the NAIA national championships March 12-18 in Sioux City, Iowa.
It's Southern Oregon vs. College of Idaho in a 'Battle for the Bid'
ASHLAND, Ore. – The battle for the bid happens here Monday night. The “bid” is to the NAIA Division II women's basketball national championships next week in Sioux City, Iowa, and the winner of the matchup between Southern Oregon and College of Idaho in the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament final will join fellow CCC member Eastern Oregon at the 32-team national tournament March 12-18.
The CCC receives two automatic berths to the NAIA Championships, and the first was secured by Eastern Oregon, the regular season league co-champion, which was awarded the bid over co-champion Southern Oregon based on the league's tiebreaker formula. The CCC's second bid is awarded to the postseason tournament champion.
Southern Oregon enters Monday night’s game with a No. 2 seed and the comfort of knowing it is playing on its home floor in front of the home crowd, where the Raiders have proved unbeatable (15-0) this year. One of those victories came at the expense of the No. 3-seeded Yotes, who fell by an 84-63 count to SOU back on Feb. 1. The Raiders, who were ranked 18th in the final NAIA Top 25 poll of the season released last week, have won five straight (including two in the CCC’s postseason tourney) and 16 of their last 17 games. College of Idaho advanced to Monday night’s championship game with homecourt victories over Evergreen and Cascade last week.
The 2008 edition of the CCC tournament championship game will feature some of the league’s individual stars, including CCC Player of the Year Chelsey Muri of Southern Oregon and CCC Defensive Player of the Year Christon Vander Esch of College of Idaho. SOU’s fourth-year coach Lynn Kennedy was tabbed the leagues’ 2007-08 Coach of the Year.
The game will be held at McNeal Pavilion on the campus of Southern Oregon University. Tickets will be available at the door. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.