Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo.
EOU holds on at SOU, 73-72
SOU Sports Information
ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon women's basketball team will welcome the chance to start anew in the postseason after falling just short against Cascade Conference champion Eastern Oregon, 73-72, in the final game of the regular season Saturday night at Lithia Motors Pavilion.
Maya Ah You Dias and Maren Herrud scored 17 points each and combined for 16 rebounds for the ninth-ranked Mountaineers (25-3, 19-1 CCC), who dodged a few bullets in the final minute. Their nine-point lead at the halfway point of the fourth quarter left shrunk to 71-70 when Destinee Jones drove and scored at the hoop with 43 seconds left.
After EOU's Madison Crews missed a pair of free throws, so did Jones with a chance to take the lead. Beverly Slater then made one of two with 20 seconds to go, and SOU guard Daranda Hinkey's 3-point attempt for the lead rimmed off on the other end. Herrud split another pair with seven seconds left and a deep Raider 3 for the tie also misfired.
The Raiders (16-10, 12-8) dropped their two matchups with the Mountaineers by a combined four points. This one was inconsequential in terms of seeding for the CCC Championships presented by U.S. Bank; thanks to College of Idaho's loss at Oregon Tech, SOU still got the No. 4 seed and will host fifth-seeded C of I at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the quarterfinal round.
The winner will advance to Friday's semifinals. The highest remaining seeds will have homecourt advantage.
All three of SOU's seniors shined on their Senior Night: Hinkey went 3-of-6 with 14 points, Jones went 4-of-6 with 10 points, three steals and two blocks, and Ariel Augustine scored 17 with a couple of clutch 3-pointers in the fourth.
Syd Fryer added 12 points, three assists and three steals, scoring seven to help bring the Raiders back in the fourth.
EOU's Jane Nelson had 10 points, while Beverly Slater contributed nine points and seven boards off the bench.