ASHLAND – Karly LeVeque scored 22 points off the bench and keyed a decisive 8-0 run in the Oregon Tech women's basketball team's 83-71 win over Southern Oregon at Bob Riehm Arena on Saturday.
The 20th-ranked Owls (18-3 overall, 6-3 Cascade Conference) trailed 66-65 with 4:37 remaining when Tess Armstrong snatched the lead with a 3-pointer. LeVeque padded it with another 3 on the next possession, and Ashleigh Vanderbrink hit a jumper to put them up 73-66 on the trip after that.
Allison Gida, the reigning CCC player of the week, put up 28 points, 12 rebounds and four assists for the Raiders (16-5, 5-4) in a losing effort, marking her third straight double-double. She scored 17 of those in the first half to dig the Raiders out of an early 21-8 hole, giving them their first lead, 31-30, on a free throw with 3:06 left.
Gida went 13-for-20 at the line, but SOU struggled as a team going 26-for-42 with eight misses each half.
Kristen Schoenherr scored 16 points and Autumn Durand 10 for SOU.
Oregon Tech shot 16-for-50 from inside the 3-point line but sunk 10 of 21 attempts behind it. LeVeque made all three of hers and Karissa Dixon was 4-for-8 on her way to 19 points, seven assists and four rebounds. Kassi Conditt added 11 points and seven rebounds, and Maria Ramirez had six points and 10 boards.
The Owls went on a 12-4 run to end the first half and go up 42-35. But the second half featured eight lead changes and six ties, and neither team led by more than four during a 14-minute chunk in the middle of it.
OIT went 21-for-26 from the line. It also finished with 22 more field-goal attempts than SOU thanks to six more offensive rebounds and seven less turnovers.
To seal the win, the Owls went 8-for-10 from the line down the stretch.
SOU made one field goal in the last five minutes – Gida's 3-pointer with 14 seconds left. Cambie Edwards' layup was responsible for giving the Raiders their last lead, 66-65. She contributed eight points and five rebounds off the bench.
The win stopped OIT's seven-game losing streak in Ashland.