Danielle Clauson scored 14 second-half points for CU
Concordia Rallies to Defeat Southern Oregon 66-64
BOX SCORE
PORTLAND, Ore. – Danielle Clauson scored 14 points in the second half to lead Concordia back from a double-digit halftime deficit as CU defeated Southern Oregon 66-64 in the Cascade Collegiate Conference opener for both teams Friday night.
Concordia’s ninth-straight win improves the Cavaliers’ record to 9-3 overall and 1-0 in CCC play. Southern Oregon falls to 6-6 overall and 0-1 in the CCC.
Southern Oregon out-shot and out-rebounded Concordia in the first half en route to a 37-26 halftime lead. The Raiders limited the Cavaliers to 30.6 percent shooting (11-of-36) in the half and out-rebounded the Cavs 30-to-19.
Concordia led by as many as five points in the opening minutes of the game, but following a 16-15 CU lead with 10:19 remaining before the break the Raiders took over. Southern Oregon closed the half on a 22-10 run, limiting Clauson to six points on 3-of-11 shooting.
Sarah Eischen’s layup to open the second half brought the Cavaliers to within nine, but Josi McDermott followed that up with a three-pointer to give the Raiders their largest lead of the game at 40-28. After the teams exchanged three-pointers, the Cavs scored eight-straight points to pull to 43-39 with 14:25 remaining in the period.
Southern Oregon scored the next four points to push its lead back to eight, but Concordia battled back to within three at 47-44 on a layup by Clauson with 11:35 remaining. The Cavaliers pulled within two at several points, but the Raiders kept pushing the lead back to four until another Clauson layup tied the score at 56-56 with five minutes left to play.
Concordia took its first lead since early in the first half with 3:09 remaining, going up 60-58 on Gabi Beyer’s layup. Southern Oregon responded by scoring the next six points to take a four-point lead with 1:15 left to play before a reverse-layup by Clauson pulled CU within two with just under a minute remaining.
McDermott missed a layup to put SOU up by four, and Courtney May sank a three-pointer with 29 seconds left to give CU the 65-64 lead. After Clauson rebounded another McDermott shot attempt, May made a free throw in the final 10 seconds to give the Cavs the 66-64 comeback victory.
Concordia shot 56.7 percent from the field (17-of-30) in the second half to spark the comeback.
Clauson (Edmonds, Wash./Kings H.S.) connected on 7-of-9 shot attempts in the second half to finish the game 10-of-20 from the field. She also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out four assists for the Cavs. Eischen (Hillsboro, Ore./Hillsboro H.S.) finished with 12 points and May (Napavine, Wash./Napavine H.S.) added 11 for CU.
Whitney Scott led Southern Oregon with 14 points, while Alexi Smith and McDermott each added 10 for the visitors.
The Cavaliers return to action tomorrow, when they host Oregon Tech in a CCC game at 7:30 p.m. at Cavalier Gymnasium.