by ASHLAND – Southern Oregon’s rediscovery of its outside touch was a death knell for fifth-seeded College of Idaho in Friday’s semifinal round of the Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank.
The sixth-ranked and top-seeded Raiders sunk 14 of 26 attempts from 3-point territory and raced to a 93-70 victory, advancing to the tournament title game for the second year in a row and the third time in four seasons. They’ll get a chance to defend their crown in Ashland at 7 p.m. Monday with a rubber match against 13th-ranked Eastern Oregon, which shared the regular season title with SOU and pounded Oregon Tech, 70-41, in the other semifinal.
Majerle Reeves went 5-of-9 downtown to spur the Raiders (27-3 overall), who had shot just 29 percent from 3 over their previous seven games. Autumn Durand joined her with 15 points and six rebounds, Tiani Bradford scored her 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting with seven rebounds and three steals, and Demi Sahlinger ran the show with a career-high 12 assists and not a single turnover.
The Yotes, who were within 22-18 after one quarter but got outscored 23-8 in the second, finished with a record of 14-16 and were eliminated at SOU for the third straight season. Alyssa Case had team-highs of 22 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals.
“C of I came out with great energy but we did a nice job responding and matching their effort,” said SOU’s Alex Carlson, who still hasn’t lost at home in two seasons as head coach. “We executed and played very unselfish basketball, and that led to a lot of good looks for us.”
The Raiders shot 54 percent overall (39-of-72) – their second-most efficient night of the season – assisted on 29 of their buckets and maintained a 40-2 advantage in bench points. Casey Williams had 10 points, three steals and three assists, Daranda Hinkey (Paiute-Shoshone) had 10 points and four assists, and both went 2-for-4 from beyond the arc. Among the starters, Sydney Mullings added 10 points and six rebounds and Toria Bradford had eight points, five assists and three steals.
Sahlinger was the rock again, though. Over SOU’s last six games, the senior point guard has amassed 29 assists and just one turnover, and going back 10 games she has 45 assists compared to three turnovers. Likewise, Tiani Bradford kept up her relaible postseason play: Through two rounds of the tournament, she’s 11-of-18 from the field with 18 rebounds, seven assists and six steals.
“The way Demi and Tiani filled the stat sheet again tonight shows why they’re two of the elite players in the league,” Carlson said.
The Raiders scored the first nine points of the second quarter on a run that Williams capped with a 3-pointer, and another Williams 3 put them up 42-22 a minute before halftime. The Yotes let their chance slip away by totaling nine misses and four turnovers before their first points of the period.
Petra Lumpert helped C of I with 16 points, four assists and three steals, and Madison Pilster added 15 points and five boards.
During the Raiders’ 27-game home winning streak, they’ve defeated 22 opponents by at least 20 points.
