Alexi Smith led SOU with 16 points and 10 rebounds against Northwest.
Second Half Paves Way For SOU Victory
ASHLAND, ORE. -- A strong second half helped the Southern Oregon women to a 63-59 victory over Northwest tonight at McNeal Pavilion.
Southern Oregon improved to 12-8 overall and 5-3 in Cascade Conference play. The Raiders travel to arch-rival Oregon Tech next Saturday at 7:30. First place Northwest dropped to 11-5 overall and 5-2 in conference.
Alexi Smith led the Raiders with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Jamie Roupp finished with 15 points and Krystal Smith added 10 points.
Kia Gibson led the Eagles with 20 points and 13 rebounds.
Northwest came out of the gates hot, posting an early 8-4 lead on a Gibson layup.
The Raiders kept chipping away and finally took a lead at 25-24 on a jumper by Roupp with a minute to play in the half. The Eagles then closed the half on a 4-0 run to take a 28-25 halftime lead.
The Eagles kept the run going to start the second half, scoring the first six points for a 34-25 lead.
SOU tried to keep it close in the second half, cutting the lead to 49-46 on a jumper by Roupp.
The Raiders cut the lead to one with just over five minutes to play on another Roupp basket and then a layup by Krystal Smith.
Alexi Smith tied the game at 54-54 going 1-for-2 from the line.
Northwest got the lead back at 56-54 on Domi Mendezona's first basket of the game at the 3:56 mark and then Erika Hornyak tied the game once again at 59-59 with a 3-pointer.
That would be it for the Eagles. Alexi Smith's layup with just under a minute to play gave SOU the lead for good at 61-59.