La Grande, Ore. – Freshman Maloree Moss scored 13 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and dished out 3 assists to lead the No. 3 ranked Mountaineers (30-2, 18-0 CCC) to a 83-55 victory over Southern Oregon in the semi finals of the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament.
EOU’s Senior Brooke Randall finished the night with 17 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists while teammate junior Nicole Redd added 6 points and 6 assists.
The Raiders were led by Alexi Smith who ended the night with a double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Teammate Allison Gida added 12 points and 4 rebounds.
The Mountaineers started the game slowly, only scoring two points in the first six minutes of the play. Midway through the half the teams combined for a total of 21 points as the Mountaineers led by 1, 11-10. Eastern finally got their offense going in the last ten minutes of the half, going on a 20-3 run and taking a 35-17 lead into the half.
In the first half the Mountaineers held the Raiders to 29%(7-of-24) shooting from the field. EOU shot 41.9%(13-of-31) from the field and 40%(6-of-15) from the three-point line.
The Mountaineers came out in the second half and held their lead before extending the margin to 30, 66-33, after a Taylor Riley three-pointer with 9:55 to play. Eastern continued to lead by twenty plus for the remainder of the game as they cruised to an 83-55 victory.
The Mountaineers shot 48% (30-of-62) from the field for the game and 50%(11-of-22) from the three. The Raiders shot 33% (19-of-57) from the field and 0-for-9 from the three for the game.
EOU’s bench outscored SOU’s bench 37-18 and were +17 in fast break points.
The Mountaineers will play College of Idaho in the Cascade Collegiate Conference Championship game on February 25
th at Quinn Coliseum in La Grande, Ore. Live stats and Video will be available at EOUsports.com.