by KIRKLAND, Wash. – Leading by four at the half, No. 13 Southern Oregon outscored Northwest University 40-28 in the second half to earn an 85-69 conference victory this afternoon to remain unbeaten at 11-0. SOU led 45-41 at the half.
The first quarter would closely played as the teams exchanged the lead, but with Northwest U leading by one, 22-21, with 2:23 to go, the Raiders would outscore the Eagles 8-4 to lead 29-26 after a high scoring, fast paced quarter.
The second quarter would see four more lead changes and with Northwest U leading once again, 39-34 at 4:01, SOU would re-take the lead with 1:59 to go in the quarter with Toria Bradford’s driving lay in. A 3-pointer by Ashley Claussen would end the scoring for the half giving the Raiders a 45-41 at the half.
Southern Oregon would lead the entire third quarter and would end the period with a 10-2 run to stretch their lead to 65-56. SOU would slowly pull away in the fourth quarter and a tip-in by Sydney Mullins with 4:30 to go would give SOU a 15 point, 77-62, lead. Two free throws by Mullins at the 2:30 mark would give the Raiders their largest lead of 18 points, 81-63, as they would close out the game to post their 11th straight win of the season.
Senior Jordan Asher scored 17 points and 4 assists to lead Northwest U (6-8, 2-3 CCC) with freshman Mariah Stacona (Warm Springs Tribe) scoring 15 points with 6 assists.Brianna Fiso contributed 9 points and 5 rebounds. SOU edged the Eagles in rebounding with a 44-43 margin.
Ashley Clausen led Southern Oregon (11-0, 4-0 CCC) with 21 points with four other Raiders in double figures: Toria Bradford and Courtney Setzer each scored 14; Autumn Durand finished with 13 and Sydney Mullins dropped in 12 points. The Raiders hit 47 percent of their shots. SOU’s defense held the Eagles to 29 percent shooting for the game and 39 percent from the 3-point line.
“I was proud of the way our ladies competed with a good team like Southern Oregon today,” said NU head coach, Ken Crawford. “We showed our youth in the second half and credit Southern Oregon for capitalizing on some of our miscues. We’ll continue to improve as I am fortunate to have a very coachable group.”
