Photo Gallery (BUY THESE PHOTOS)

A strong second half helped the Southern Oregon women to a 63-59 victory over Northwest tonight at McNeal Pavilion.

Southern Oregon improved to 12-8 overall and 5-3 in Cascade Conference play. The Raiders travel to arch-rival Oregon Tech next Saturday at 7:30. First place Northwest dropped to 11-5 overall and 5-2 in conference.

Alexi Smith (Bakersfield, Calif./Stockdale) led the Raiders with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Jamie Roupp (Ashland, Ore./Ashland) finished with 15 points and Krystal Smith (Olympia, Wash./River Ridge) added 10 points.

Kia Gibson led the Eagles with 20 points and 13 rebounds.

Northwest came out of the gates hot, posting an early 8-4 lead on a Gibson layup.

The Raiders kept chipping away and finally took a lead at 25-24 on a jumper by Roupp with a minute to play in the half. The Eagles then closed the half on a 4-0 run to take a 28-25 halftime lead.

The Eagles kept the run going to start the second half, scoring the first six points for a 34-25 lead.

SOU tried to keep it close in the second half, cutting the lead to 49-46 on a jumper by Roupp.

The Raiders cut the lead to one with just over five minutes to play on another Roupp basket and then a layup by Krystal Smith (Olympia, Wash./River Ridge).

Alexi Smith (Bakersfield, Calif./Stockdale) tied the game at 54-54 going 1-for-2 from the line.

Northwest got the lead back at 56-54 on Domi Mendezona's first basket of the game at the 3:56 mark and then Erika Hornyak tied the game once again at 59-59 with a 3-pointer.

That would be it for the Eagles. Alexi Smith (Bakersfield, Calif./Stockdale)'s layup with just under a minute to play gave SOU the lead for good at 61-59.