Lady Owls Upset No.17 Eastern Oregon 69-64
Klamath Falls, Ore. – Oregon Tech limited the Eastern Oregon women to just 9 points in the 3rd quarter to sneak away with a 69-64 victory Sunday afternoon at Danny Miles Court.
Oregon Tech improves to 8-2 in CCC play and 15-5 on the year with No. 17 EOU falling to 15-4 on the year and also 8-2 in CCC action. Both teams are now in a three-way tie for 2nd place in the CCC standings, with NCU as the third team
The game started with both teams evenly matched, as baskets would be exchanged at either end of the court, with neither team able to pull away early on. Coming out of a timeout at the 5:00 minute mark, Tech would find a shooting rhythm and go on a 14-3 run to end the quarter with a score of 23-11.
The second quarter of play would see EOU come out with a different level of determination, as they would go on a 15-0 run, taking the lead for the first time in the game with 6:30 left to play and the score 23-26, before a timeout would break up the action. Tech would regroup and the game would level out, with both teams exchanging buckets for the remainder of the half. The half would close out with nine lead changes and five tied scores before the teams would leave the court for the break seeing the score at 38-39 in favor of the visitors.
The second half of play saw the offensive production limited on both ends of the court. The teams continued to exchange buckets with the score staying close. EOU was limited to 9 points in the quarter, with guard Maya Ah You scoring on two 3-pointers, while Tech was able to score 13 points to take the lead at 51-48 to close out the 3rd quarter.
The Lady Owls would start the 4th quarter with a 9-4 run, before the Mounties would pick up some momentum and close the gap at 62-61 with just over 3:00 minutes to play. The game would close out with both teams making big shots and keeping the game within one basket. A Tech inbound play with :39 seconds left on the clock would be picked off by EOU, as they would get two looks at the hoop to level the score, but could not hit on either shot. A timeout and EOU possession with :11 seconds would give the Mounties one last opportunity to tie the game. A missed jumper by EOU would see a battle for the rebound under the hoop before Tech forward, Nohea Waiwaiole would be fouled and sent to the free throw line. Waiwaiole would hit 1 of 2, sending the final score to 69-65 for the Lady Owls victory.
On the evening, Bailey Nelson led the way for the Owls with 18 points, while Morgan Roberts-Ili added 15 and Waiwaiole added 10 each. For EOU, Maya Ah You led her team with 21 points, while Darian Gasseling added 11 and Donniesha Webber added 9 points apiece.
Oregon Tech heads to Washington next weekend to begin the second half of conference play as they take on the Evergreen State College and Northwest University.