Schoenherr
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo
Kristen Schoenherr made all four of her 3-point attempts on Saturday at Oregon Tech.
89
Winner Southern Oregon SOU 16-2, 7-2 CCC
78
Oregon Tech OITW 16-5, 5-4 CCC
Winner
Southern Oregon SOU
16-2, 7-2 CCC
89
Final
78
Oregon Tech OITW
16-5, 5-4 CCC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Southern Oregon SOU 48 41 89
Oregon Tech OITW 36 42 78

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | SOU Sports Information

Raiders end four-year drought at OIT with late surge

KLAMATH FALLS – In a game fueled by big swings, the last one went in favor of the 14th-ranked Southern Oregon women's basketball team for an 89-78 win over Oregon Tech on Saturday night at Danny Miles Court.

After watching all of a 12-point halftime lead evaporate as the Owls tied the game at 67-all with 8:05 left, the Raiders took the air out of the gym and sealed their ninth win in 10 games with a decisive 19-2 surge over the next five minutes.

SOU locked into a first-place tie and improved to 16-2 overall and 7-2 in the Cascade Conference, and will start the second half of circuit play next weekend at College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon. The win was the Raiders' first at OIT – where they lost last season's CCC tournament championship game – since Jan. 15, 2011.

Raider forward Alexi Smith (Bakersfield, Calif./Stockdale) matched a career-high with 26 points, scoring 20-plus for a second straight game for the first time, and added seven rebounds. Ashley Claussen (Scotts Valley, Calif./Santa Cruz) had 19 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, Kristen Schoenherr (Rainier, Wash./Rainier) added 17 points and seven boards, and both Claussen and Schoenherr knocked down four 3-pointers.

Back-to-back triples by Claussen and Durand were followed by Durand and Brenna Anderson (Burlington, Wash./Burlington-Edison) layups near the end of the first frame, capping a 12-0 SOU run that opened the gap for the first time.

The Owls (16-4, 5-3) closed that gap after halftime thanks to 4-for-6 shooting from downtown. Rebekah Matteri's 3-pointer tied it, but Smith's layup seconds later gave the lead back to SOU.

Claussen hit another 3 on SOU's next possession and, after a Courtney West (Sydney, Australia/Port Hacking) block, Claussen got free for a transition layup that put the Raiders up 74-67 and the momentum on their side.

OIT missed nine of 10 shots during the 19-2 spurt and turned it over once.

The Owls were led by Carrie Thibault, who scored 16 points and made all four of her 3-point tries. Matteri had 15 points and six boards, Karly LeVeque scored 12 and Tess Armstrong added 11.

For SOU, Durand added 13 points and five rebounds, while West went for six points, 10 boards and three blocks. The Raiders went 9-for-19 from outside (with Schoenherr going 4-for-4) and 18-for-23 from the free-throw line. They also had just three turnovers in the first half – a season-low – but committed 12 in the second.

Carly Meister (Elma, Wash./Elma) contributed four of SOU's 17 offensive rebounds. The Raiders had an overall edge of 53-35 on the glass.
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