Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo.
SOU goes cold as Owls pull off 78-70 upset
SOU Sports Information
ASHLAND – Oregon Tech ended a long Southern Oregon winning streak for the second year in a row Wednesday, riding Megan Morris's 20 points and a strong second half to a 78-70 Cascade Conference victory inside Mountain Avenue Gym.
The ninth-ranked Raiders (20-2 overall, 12-2 CCC) had won 13 straight when the night began and started hot, taking a 22-12 lead nine minutes in on consecutive
Remi Mejia 3-pointers. They were up seven when the first quarter ended but shot just 27 percent the rest of the way, including 4-of-21 in the second frame as the Owls (18-8, 11-5) battled back to tie it at 34-all by halftime.
The Raiders were particularly bothered by OIT's length: The Owls finished with 10 blocks, the most for an SOU opponent in two years. Nohea Waiwaiole was responsible for four of them, also adding eight rebounds and five assists, and Mikaela Shumaker put three blocks next to her 10 points.
Morris shot 8-of-12 from the field to lead the Owls, and Abby Kreiser made eight straight free throws in the closing minutes to finish with 16 points and six assists off the bench.
A pair of Waiwaiole free throws and Morris's layup off a dish from Kreiser put OIT up six points in the fourth quarter, and Kreiser's jumper made it 63-55 with 6:37 remaining. Back-to-back finishes inside from SOU's
Toria Bradford cut the lead to two at the four-minute mark, but the Raiders didn't hit another shot until they were in a 10-point hole with 17 seconds left.
OIT finished at 49 percent from the field (27-of-55) and kept SOU at 32 (24-of-75). After committing 10 turnovers in the first quarter, the Owls had 12 the rest of the way.
Mejia scored 21 with four steals and Bradford had 15 points, six rebounds and four assists, though they were limited to 11-of-37 combined shooting.
SOU, now two games back of first-place Eastern Oregon, will take a two-game trip to Walla Walla (Wash.) next, playing the Wolves at 12 p.m. Friday and 6:30 p.m. Saturday.