Tech's Karly LeVeque drives to the basket for Oregon Tech. LeVeque finished with 7 points and 5 rebounds. (photo by Kelly Caleb)
Second Half Comeback Falls Short, No. 9 Eastern Oregon Defeats Oregon Tech 56-52
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Trailing by 14 points late in the second half, an Oregon Tech 12-0 run cut the deficit to 2 points, but No. 9 Eastern Oregon University never let it get closer and escaped an Owl upset bid winning 56-52 tonight in Cascade Collegiate Conference women’s basketball action at Danny Miles Court.
Oregon Tech fell to 10-4 overall and 3-1 in the Cascade Conference standings. Ninth-ranked Eastern Oregon University improved to 13-2 on the season and remains unbeaten in CCC play with a 4-0 mark.
EOU opened the scoring on a Brooke Randall basket, before the Owls regained the lead on a Karissa Dixon layup, 9-8.
Tech kept the game to within 3 points, 24-21, after Maria Ramirez hit a short runner, but EOU would close out the half on an 8-1 spurt to lead 32-22 at the half.
Nicole Redd opened up period 2 with a trey to give EOU a 13 point advantage, keeping a double digit lead nearing the midway point. Tech’s Carrie Thibault finally pushed the Owls back to single digits, 42-34, on a 3-pointer from the right wing with 10:57 to play.
EOU next raced out to their largest lead of 14 points, 48-34, with 7:28 on the clock, but not before Tech mounted their comeback. Karly LeVeque grabbed an offensive rebound and put that back up and in, while a Tess Armstrong 3-pointer got the Owls to within 2 points, 48-46, with 3:15 remaining.
The Owls, however, could never get any closer, as EOU would hit 4-of-6 freebies down the stretch and hang on for the 56-52 win.
Nicole Aboumrad tallied 11 points with Karissa Dixon, Karly LeVeque and Maria Ramirez coming away with 7 points each in the loss for the Owls. Kassi Conditt grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, followed by Dixon with 9 and 5 each by LeVeque and Ramirez.
Brooke Randall led the way for the Mountaineers with a game-high 18 points, followed by Nicole Redd with 12 points and 7 rebounds. Jorie Freeman netted 10 points and grabbed 5 boards tonight in the win.
A cold shooting night by both teams led to a 32.1% shooting effort (18-of-56) by Oregon Tech, while EOU finished 35% from the floor (21-for-60). EOU held a 42-41 advantage on the boards with the Owls knocking down 10-of-13 free throws and the Mountaineers 9-for-17 at the charity stripe.