Haley Newell led SOU with 20 points
SOU Opens CCC Play with 74-63 Win
BOX SCORE
ASHLAND – Southern Oregon took a 10-point halftime lead and overcame a late Northwest Conference rally to defeat the Beacons 74-63 in the Cascade Collegiate Conference women’s basketball opener for both teams Friday night at Bob Riehm Arena.
Southern Oregon improved to 10-1 overall and 1-0 in the CCC with the win, while the loss dropped Northwest Christian to 7-5 overall and 0-1 in conference play. Both teams return to action tomorrow night, with the Raiders hosting No. 12 Corban and the Beacons traveling to Klamath Falls to face Oregon Tech at 5:30 p.m.
Haley Newell hit four three-pointers and totaled 20 points to lead the Raiders, while Lindsey Shearer’s 22 points for NCU marked the game-high total. Josi McDermott added 12 points for SOU and Jess Anderson finished with 10 for the Beacons.
Northwest Christian hit 49.0 percent of its shots in the game (25-of-51), but the Beacons turned the ball over 25 times and the Raiders out-rebounded NCU 45-29. Southern Oregon finished 27-of-70 from the field.
Southern Oregon built its biggest lead of the game midway through the second half when Krysten Copeland hit a layup to make it 61-42 with 11:26 remaining. The Raiders still led by 19 points a few minutes later until Anderson hit a three-pointer that sparked a 19-6 NCU run that pulled the Beacons within six at 69-63 with just under three minutes to play.
RaTanya Newsome ended the Northwest Christian run with a pair of free throws, and the Raiders scored the final five points of the game on free throws to pull back ahead by double-digits and reach the final score of 74-63.