Melissa Sweat again dominated for the Raiders, sinking all 10 of her shot attempts in the win
SOU Women Improve to 5-0 with 97-80 Win Over William Jessup
BOX SCORE
KLAMATH FALLS – For the second straight night, the Southern Oregon women’s basketball team used a second-half run to pull away to a non-conference victory as the Raiders knocked off William Jessup 97-80 at the Midland Empire Insurance Classic Saturday afternoon.
Southern Oregon improves to 5-0 win the win, while William Jessup falls to 2-4. The Raiders return to action Sunday afternoon when they will host Hope International at 4 p.m. at Bob Riehm Arena.
Melissa Sweat connected on all 10 of her shot attempts to record a team-high 27 points in only 22 minutes of court time, while Alexi Smith posted a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds and nearly reached a triple-double with seven assists. Allison Gida finished with 16 points and Carly Meister added 11 points and nine rebounds.
The Raiders limited William Jessup to 28.4 percent shooting (23-of-81), while SOU connected on 48.6 percent of its shots (36-of-74). Ashley Rose scored a game-high 32 points for the Warriors, while Sarah Petersen finished with 18 points and Taylor Borba added 11.
The teams played evenly throughout the first half, with 14 tie scores including a jumper in the closing seconds by Petersen to make it 49-49 at the break. The half featured 11 lead changes to go with the 14 ties. Southern Oregon began to take over early in the second half, however.
Following a Borba free throw to put William Jessup up 50-49, Sweat hit a jumper that sparked a 13-point SOU streak to put the Raiders up by double-digits, and the Warriors would not get closer than eight points back the rest of the way. After another Borba free throw made it 65-56, the Raiders scored seven straight points to build the comfortable lead, and they held off any WJU comeback attempts through the final 10 minutes.