Melissa Sweat's three-pointer at the buzzer forced overtime
SOU Women Pull Out 82-80 Overtime Win Over Oregon Tech
BOX SCORE
ASHLAND – Melissa Sweat hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime and scored Southern Oregon’s final five points in the overtime period to lead the Raiders to an 82-80 Cascade Collegiate Conference women’s basketball win over Oregon Tech Saturday night at Bob Riehm Arena.
Southern Oregon improves to 18-8 overall and 7-7 in conference play, while Oregon Tech falls to 16-8 overall and 9-5 in the CCC. Both teams return to action Friday in Washington, with the Raiders taking on Northwest and the Owls facing Evergreen at 5:30 p.m.
Sweat finished with a game-high 28 points to go with nine rebounds, three assists and three steals. Alexi Smith tallied 15 points and Ashley Claussen added 13 in the win. Karissa Dixon led Oregon Tech with 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Kassi Conditt posted a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Nicole Aboumrad tallied 16 points and Maria Ramirez finished with 12.
The back-and-forth affair featured nine tie scores and 11 lead changes, including tie scores at the end of the first half and regulation. Neither team led by more than six points throughout the contest.
Oregon Tech looked like it might pull away late in the second half, scoring six straight points to break a 64-all tie and take a 70-64 lead with 3:23 to play. After Claussen and Conditt exchanged layups the Owls still held the six-point advantage with 2:35 remaining before Smith and Sweat made consecutive layups to pull the Raiders within two.
Neither team scored again for the next minute-and-a-half until Carly Meister made a free throw to pull SOU within one with 16 seconds on the clock. Colleen Hunt made a pair of free throws for the Owls to put OIT up 74-71 with five seconds remaining, but Sweat dropped a trey from the right sideline as the buzzer sounded to force overtime.
With the near-capacity crowd of nearly 1,300 cheering on the rivals, Sweat broke a 77-77 tie with 39 seconds to play in the overtime with another three-pointer. After Kiara Moore missed a free throw with 16 seconds remaining that would have made it a two-possession game, Sweat stole the ball beneath the basket from Dixon and made the layup to clinch the win. Dixon made a three-pointer for the Owls in the final seconds, but the Raiders held on for the rivalry win and the season split.