Jenny Fiso dished out five assists against SOU.
LA GRANDE, Ore. - The Mountaineers (14-7, 9-5 CCC) got off to a great first half start against the No. 25 ranked Raiders of Southern Oregon University (14-7, 9-5 CCC), but in the end fell by a 72-69 margin.
EOU controlled the small lead throughout the first half, and picked up a little momentum at about the four minute mark. EOU's Alyssa Garro, knocked down a three-pointer as the shot clock was winding down, and EOU continued to knock down a couple quick shots to take their biggest lead of the game 34-26 going into intermission.
The Mountaineers came out with the same intensity the second half, matching their first half play, and continued to widen the lead against the Raiders. Kyle Miller knocked down a shot from behind the arc and teammate Tana Stickney came down the next position and also had a three-point play. EOU increased the lead to 45-29 with 17 minutes left in the ball game.
However, this lead was not large enough for the Raiders to go away. Southern took advantage of a couple Eastern errors and picked up a couple easy buckets, and shots from behind the arc to put themselves right back into the game. SOU, who was down by 16 points, now was down by 1 with nine minutes left in the contest.
At the seven minute mark Southern took their first lead of the second half and continued to increase the lead. With two minutes left in the game, SOU led 69-61 over the Mountaineers; however, the Mounties weren't going to give up that easy, Brianna Smith and teammate Ashlee Michelson knocked down 2 back to back threes. The Mounties had windows of opportunities, but couldn't seal the deal. After leading almost the entire game, the Mountaineers lost a heartbreaker 72-69 to Southern Oregon University.
Head Coach Anji Weissenfluh stated, "Even though the results were disappointing, we did a lot of great things tonight."
The Mountaineers had four players in double figures; Tana Stickney with 18 points, Ashlee Michelson with 16 points, Kyle Miller and Brianna Smith with 13 apiece.
The Mountaineers will travel on the road this next weekend to play No. 15th Ranked Concordia University (19-2, 12-1 CCC) and Corban College (9-13, 5-9 CCC) in Portland, Ore. at 5:30p.m. PST.