Alexi Smith led all scorers with 23 points and added eight rebounds
Raiders Pull Away to 86-75 Win Over Corban
BOX SCORE
ASHLAND – Southern Oregon outscored Corban 15-3 in the final minutes to put the Warriors away 86-75 in a Cascade Collegiate Conference women’s basketball contest Friday night at Bob Riehm Arena.
Southern Oregon improves to 20-9 overall and 9-8 in conference play, officially clinching the fifth spot in next week’s CCC Tournament. Corban falls to 9-19 overall and 5-12 in the CCC. Both teams return to action Saturday, with SOU hosting Northwest Christian and Corban traveling to Klamath Falls to take on Oregon Tech at 5:30 p.m.
Alexi Smith tallied a game-high 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Southern Oregon, connecting on eight of her 11 shot attempts in the game. Allison Gida totaled 19 points, Krysten Copeland finished with 12 and Melissa Sweat added 10. Ashley Claussen filled up the stat sheet with 11 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
Tara Vanweerdhuizen posted a double-double for the Warriors, scoring 22 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Emily Tsugawa finished with 14 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, while Tess Bennett tallied 12 points and Julia Young added 11.
Southern Oregon shot 60.7 percent (17-of-28) in the second half while limiting Corban to 33.3 percent shooting (16-of-48) in the period. The Raiders made one more basket than the Warriors in the half despite attempting 20 fewer shots. The shooting advantage helped the Raiders overcome a 50-36 rebounding deficit.
The game was back-and-forth throughout, with seven tie scores and nine lead changes. Corban took its largest lead of the game eight minutes into the opening period when a Vanweerdhuizen layup put the visitors up 20-13. Southern Oregon scored the next six points to pull back within one, and a nine-point Raider run a few minutes later gave the hosts a 30-25 advantage. The Raiders held the five-point advantage going into the halftime break, leading 40-35.
A nine-point Corban run about six minutes into the second half pulled the Warriors back even and gave them a brief two-point lead, and neither team led by more than five points for the next 10 minutes. A Vanweerdhuizen basket gave Corban its final lead of the game at 72-71 with 3:16 remaining before Gida put the Raiders up for good with a layup and a free throw. From that point, the Raiders scored 15 of the final 18 points to pull away to the 11-point victory.