The Southern Oregon women overcame a sluggish first half, but came up just short as they fell to 18th-ranked Northwest 83-71 tonight at Kirkland, Wash.

The first place Eagles improved to 17-5 overall and 11-2 in Cascade Conference play. Southern Oregon fell to 13-13 overall and 6-8 in league action. The Raiders travel to Evergreen State tomorrow night.

Brittney Marshall led the Eagles with 25 points and made five 3-pointers.

Whitney Scott (Tumwater, Wash./Black Hills) led SOU with 20 points and moved into fourth place on SOU's career scoring list. Alexi Smith (Bakersfield, Calif./Stockdale) added 12 points and Jamie Roupp (Ashland, Ore./Ashland) had 10 points.

The Raiders fell behind 46-23 at the half after making just eight field goals.

In the second half, Southern Oregon went on a 21-6 run and cut the Northwest lead to 62-54 with 9:20 to play on a free throw by sophomore Celonna Arrington (Long Beach, Calif./Bellflower).

After Northwest took control of the game again, the Raiders trimmed the lead to nine at 80-71 on a jumper by Nicole Mowbray (Oak Harbor, Wash./Oak Harbor), but the Eagles made three of four free throws down the stretch to ice the game.