Photo by Rob Cashell, CCC Commissioner. Raiders wear down Owls for CCC Tournament championship 2/29/2016 9:11:00 PM SOU Sports Information ASHLAND – A few hours after being introduced to its Cascade Conference regular-season championship trophy, the fifth-ranked Southern Oregon women's basketball team claimed another piece of coveted hardware Monday night at Mountain Avenue Gym. With an 85-63 defeat of second-seeded Oregon Tech, the Raiders completed their dominant run through the CCC in the tournament championship game presented by U.S. Bank, winning both titles for the first time since 2008 and avenging two straight seasons of postseason heartbreak inflicted by the Owls. At 29-1 overall, the Raiders will go into the NAIA Div. II Championships having already matched the 2008 SOU squad for the most wins in program history. The 32-team national tournament bracket will be announced Wednesday by the national office, and first-round play begins March 9 in Sioux City, Iowa. Senior all-stars Carly Meister and Ashley Claussen – who are among seven players on SOU's current roster that were involved in both losses to OIT last year in the CCC semifinals and two years ago in the title game – made sure there was no letdown this time around. Meister dominated inside by going 11-of-13 for 24 points and eight rebounds, while Claussen had 18 points, five assists, five rebounds and five steals. Tiani Bradford and Demi Sahlinger also came up with five steals apiece as SOU's pressure defense coaxed the Owls into 24 turnovers. Sahlinger had a career night on the offensive end, too, with 10 assists – most of which found Meister cutting the basket. The Raiders had a 46-14 advantage in points in the paint, a number boosted by Autumn Durand's 15 points and nine boards. The Owls (25-8), who came into the night having already secured the CCC's second automatic bid to the national tournament, were led by Ashleigh Vandenbrink's 13 points and Megan Whetstone's 12. OIT claimed the last two CCC tournament titles and stayed in position to pull off an upset despite some shaky opening moments. Trailing 37-25, the Owls ended the first half by scoring seven unanswered points in the final 90 seconds, a run capped by Mary Drzayich's 3-pointer. Vandendbrink's triple cut SOU's lead to 47-40 four minutes into the third quarter when the Raiders made their move. Meister started an 8-0 run with a third-chance putback, and Claussen and Meister finished it with back-to-back three-point plays to make it 55-40. The Owls were down 64-46 when they cut into the deficit again with nine straight points to start the fourth: Whetstone drained a jumper, Vandenbrink made back-to-back 3s and Karly LeVeque hit a free throw with two minutes gone in the period. But SOU had another answer – again in the form of a three-point play – as Sahlinger inbounded to Sydney Mullings, who absorbed contact and scored off the backboard in the paint. Up 69-59, Sahlinger's dish to Meister for a layup and her 3-pointer in the corner started a 16-2 run that sealed the outcome. The Owls shot just 33 percent in their first two meetings with the Raiders (both SOU wins) and were markedly better at 46 percent in the third meeting, but the turnover total was their highest since the fourth game of the season. SOU shot 32-of-68 from the field and 15-of-17 from the free-throw line. The Raiders finished 15-0 at home, and only two of those wins were decided by less than 20 points.