Box Score OLYMPIA, Wash. – Southern Oregon's late comeback effort fell short as the Raiders fell to Evergreen 68-65 in Cascade Collegiate Conference women's basketball action Saturday night at CRC Gymnasium.

Southern Oregon falls to 19-9 overall and 8-8 in conference play, while Evergreen improves to 6-15 overall and 5-12 in the CCC. The Raiders return home for the final weekend of the regular season, hosting Corban on Friday and Northwest Christian on Senior Night Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

With two games to go, the Raiders are firmly set in the fifth-place spot in the conference standings, three games behind Oregon Tech and Warner Pacific in third place and two games ahead of sixth-place Northwest Christian. The top eight teams advance to the first round of the CCC Tournament, with games set for Feb. 19.

Alexi Smith (Bakersfield, Calif./Stockdale) tallied a team-high 16 points, while Carly Meister (Elma, Wash./Elma) posted her third double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Ashley Claussen (Scotts Valley, Calif./Santa Cruz) and Melissa Sweat (Bakersfield, Calif./Stockdale) each finished with 10 points in the loss.

Sammi Clark led Evergreen with 18 points, and both Danielle Swain and Jessica Denmon posted double-doubles for the Geoducks. Swain finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Denmon tallied 11 of each in the win.

Southern Oregon shot only 36.8 percent (21-of-57) in the game, the Raiders' second lowest single-game shooting percentage of the season (SOU shot 36.3 percent in a road loss to College of Idaho on Jan. 18.) Evergreen shot 42.1 percent from the field, attempting the same 57 shots as SOU but with three more makes.

The Raiders led for most of the first 15 minutes of the game, but a jumper by Denmon gave Evergreen a 22-21 lead with 4:42 to play in the opening period and the Geoducks went on to lead the rest of the way. The hosts built a six-point lead with about 90 seconds to play before halftime, but jumpers by Smith and Meister and a free throw by Smith made it 34-31 at the halftime break.

Southern Oregon tied it up at 45-45 eight minutes into the second half on a pair of free throws by Allison Gida (Ashland, Ore./Ashland) to cap a seven-point SOU run. Clarke hit a three-pointer on the next possession to end the Raider run, however, and a few minutes later another Clark three made it 54-48 ESC. Evergreen scored the next three to take its largest lead of the game at 57-48 before a Haley Newell (Santa Monica, Calif./) three-pointer pulled SOU back to within six.

Evergreen held a 66-58 lead with 2:13 remaining, but Meister came up big late with a pair of rebounds and buckets as SOU scored seven straight points to make it a one-point game with 17 seconds remaining. Unfortunately for the Raiders, Clark made a layup a few seconds later, and Swain blocked a last-second three-point attempt by Swain to clinch the win for the Geoducks.