Box Score EUGENE – Southern Oregon built an eight-point halftime lead and pulled away to a 79-68 women's basketball victory over Northwest Christian Friday night in the Cascade Collegiate Conference opener for both teams at Morse Event Center.

Southern Oregon improves to 9-1 overall and 1-0 in conference play, while Northwest Christian falls to 6-4 overall and 0-1 in the CCC. The Raiders return to action Saturday night, taking on Corban at 5:30 p.m. in Salem.

Alexi Smith (Bakersfield, Calif./Stockdale) posted a double-double for Southern Oregon, totaling game-high totals with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Melissa Sweat (Bakersfield, Calif./Stockdale) made six of her eight shot attempts to total 18 points, and Angelica Cahee (Oroville, Calif./) added 10 points and five steals as the Raiders shot 48.3 percent (29-of-60) to overcome 29 turnovers in the win.

Lindsey Shearer tallied a double-double for Northwest Christian with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Aly Bruns totaled 11 points and Andrea Gloss and Kelsey Atkins each added 10 points.

Northwest Christian opened the game quickly and took a 15-7 lead less than four minutes into the contest. Ashley Claussen (Scotts Valley, Calif./Santa Cruz) hit a three-pointer to spark a 10-2 SOU run to tie it up at 17-17, and the score remained close for the next 10 minutes until the Raiders closed the half on a 12-4 run to claim a 38-30 halftime advantage.

A jumper by Smith opened the second half and gave SOU its first double-digit lead of the game. The Raiders stretched their lead to as many as 17 points with less than eight minutes to play before a Northwest Christian run pulled the Beacons to within nine with 5:44 remaining. Sweat made a pair of free throws to end the run, and the Raiders did not let the hosts pull any closer the rest of the way.