Kassi Conditt scored seven and added a game-high 11 rebounds in an OIT win over Concordia on Saturday.
Tech Tackles Concordia for Weekend Split
BOX SCORE - Concordia vs. Oregon Tech
PORTLAND, Ore.—The Oregon Tech women’s basketball team led from the opening whistle against Concordia on Saturday, eventually winning 55-48.
The win for the Hustlin’ Owls moves them to 11-5 overall and 4-2 in the CCC, while the Cavaliers drop to 5-9 overall and 0-5 in the CCC.
However, while the Cavaliers never led, they also never lost touch with the Owls as they repeatedly came back and even had the game within five points with 39 seconds left.
A jumper from point guard Kelly Huey got the Cavs within five following an OIT turnover with 44 seconds left. Concordia tried to foul after Huey’s jumper, but OIT’s Nicole Aboumrad made both free throws to push the lead back up to three possessions at 55-48. After that, Concordia couldn’t get anything out of their next offensive possession, then couldn’t force a turnover out of OIT as the Hustlin’ Owls melted the rest of the clock.
Still, Concordia had done well to get back within the game after OIT had run out to a 16-point lead behind a 12-0 run soon after halftime. OIT’s Maria Ramirez assisted on the first three baskets of the run, then capped it with a layup of her own that made it 37-21 OIT with 15:44 left in the game.
Ramirez then assisted again on a three-pointer from Carrie Thibault that made it 40-26, but the Cavaliers began to chip away at OIT’s lead after that. Concordia scored the next nine points to cut OIT’s lead to five at 40-35. The Cavaliers’ run helped fuel the Cavs over the rest of the game too as they stayed within single-digits of OIT for the rest of the way.
In the first half, OIT took control early as they held Concordia to just 1-of-10 from the field at the start of the game to run out to a 10-2 lead. The Cavaliers came back with six straight points, but the Hustlin’ Owls responded with a 13-4 run that gave them a 23-12 lead with 2:32 remaining in the first half. Fortunately for the Cavs, freshman Taylor Schaller came in and knocked down back-to-back three-pointers, the second of which came with 17 seconds left in the half and cut OIT’s lead to 23-18 heading into halftime.
Schaller finished the game with 11 points, tying Huey for a team-high and giving the freshman her first double-digit point total as a Cavalier. Schaller had just scored 19 points heading into Saturday’s game. Besides her, Huey had another solid all-around game for the Cavs as she finished with 11 points, five assists and four rebounds, the eighth time this season she’s finished with at least four in all three categories in a game.
Meanwhile, for OIT, Aboumrad led all players with 12 points in the game, while Karissa Dixon chipped in 11 for the Hustlin’ Owls. Dixon was also one of three OIT players to fill the stat sheet in the game as she finished with six rebounds, two steals and two three-pointers to go with her 11 points, while Kassi Conditt (seven points, 11 rebounds, three assists, three blocks and a steal) and Ramirez (eight points, seven rebounds, six assists and a steal) were all over the floor as well.
As a team, OIT played better in the second half as they shot 47.8 percent from the floor in the period compared to just 31.0 percent in the first half. Concordia, meanwhile, bounced back from its early struggles in the field to shoot 37.0 percent in the second half.
Both teams will now break for the Holidays as both won’t play until after the new year. Concordia will start back up with a game at Evergreen on Friday, Jan. 4, while OIT won’t play until the following day, Jan. 5 when they host Southern Oregon. Both games will tip off at 5:30 p.m.