ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon University women's basketball let University of California Merced hang around while it worked out some kinks, but the Raiders eventually pulled away for a 90-74 win Friday in their season-opener at Riehm Arena.

Senior forward Alexi Smith (Bakersfield, Calif./Stockdale) had 17 points and eight rebounds to lead the 21st-ranked Raiders, who turned a 62-58 lead with 12 minutes remaining into 75-60 at the six-minute mark by turning four turnovers into buckets.

Carly Meister (Elma, Wash./Elma), the other half of SOU's inside tandem, went for 15 points and eight rebounds, Autumn Durand (Onalaska, Wash./Onalaska) had 14 points and five assists, and Ashley Claussen (Scotts Valley, Calif./Santa Cruz) dished out 11 assists. Tiani Bradford (Oregon City, Ore./Oregon City) came off the bench with 11 points, while Courtney West (Sydney, Australia/Port Hacking) did the same with eight points and seven rebounds on a 4-for-5 effort in her SOU debut.

The Raiders were held up by 23 turnovers, but shot 49 percent as a team and assisted 28 of 36 buckets.

Merced (0-1) was held to a 37-percent (11-for-30) clip in the second stanza after going into halftime down 48-42. Shelby Howard kept the Bobcats in it with 19 points, drilling five 3-pointers, and Alexis Wu added 17 points.

SOU is back in action at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday against New Hope Christian, which was a 69-36 loser in the earlier Flagship Inn Classic game against Oregon Tech.