OLYMPIA, Wash. – When a team's top scorer is blanked for an entire quarter, it generally spells doom. The Southern Oregon University women's basketball team emphatically proved otherwise in a 95-50 Cascade Collegiate Conference victory at The Evergreen State College on Saturday night.
Raider senior guard Ashley Claussen, who entered the game leading the league with a 22.2 scoring clip, registered her first points of the game 11 minutes, 21 seconds into the contest. By that time, torrid 19-point outputs by senior all-star post Carly Meister and junior guard Majerle Reeves staked the Raiders (10-0 overall, 3-0 conference) to a commanding 30-9 lead that was never challenged by the Geoducks (1-8, 1-3).
Meister, who prepped at nearby Elma High, converted eight of her first 10 shots and scored 14 in the opening stanza. Meanwhile, Reeves, a Longview product, tallied four of her five treys in the first half en route to a career-best offensive output, surpassing a 16-point explosion on Nov. 15 against Pacific Union.
Southern extended its advantage to 50-13 in the second quarter, led 55-20 at halftime and held a 77-31 stranglehold after three stanzas en route to the school's sixth straight win over the Geoducks and 28th in 37 encounters dating back to 1998.
Oh, yes, Claussen was not missing from the scoring column for long. She scored eight in the second quarter and finished with 18points.
Southern's five Washingtonians (Meister, Reeves, Autumn Durand, Emily Peters and Demi Sahlinger) combined for 50 points and 24 rebounds.
The dominant effort extended Southern's best-ever start to 10 straight, including 18 consecutive regular-season victories since an overtime loss at Eastern Oregon on Jan. 24, 2015.
Evergreen received solid efforts from post players Victoria Elleby (12 points, eight rebounds) and Gabi Fenumiai (11 points, eight rebounds).
Tied atop the league standings with Warner Pacific and Oregon Tech, the Raiders put their various streaks on the line tomorrow afternoon at Northwest University in Kirkland, Wash.