west
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo
77
Winner Oregon Tech OITW 22-10
74
Southern Oregon SOU 26-4
Winner
Oregon Tech OITW
22-10
77
Final
74
Southern Oregon SOU
26-4
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Oregon Tech OITW 36 41 77
Southern Oregon SOU 37 37 74

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

SOU knocked off by Owls in semifinals, will await tourney fate

ASHLAND – The Oregon Tech women's basketball team needed its most improbable win of the season to see another day and got just that in Friday night's semifinal round of the Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank.

The Owls overcame a 12-point deficit with eight minutes to play and pulled off a 77-74 upset of eighth-ranked and second-seeded Southern Oregon, ending SOU's 17-game home win streak at Riehm Arena.

OIT's Megan Whetstone amassed career- and game-highs of 26 points and 14 rebounds, Karly LeVeque scored 16 of her 20 points in the second half and Tess Armstrong hit the go-ahead jumper with 1:06 remaining, making it 75-74.

The Raiders (26-4 overall) came up empty on their last four trips down the floor. LeVeque extended the Owls' lead on two free throws with 2.7 seconds showing on the clock, and Alexi Smith (Bakersfield, Calif./Stockdale)'s potential game-tying 3-point attempt rimmed off at the buzzer.

OIT (22-10) entered the tournament as the No. 5 seed and rallied back from a six-point deficit with under five minutes to play for a 69-62 upset at Evergreen in Tuesday's quarterfinals . The Owls will now travel to La Grande for a meeting with top-seeded and 17th-ranked Eastern Oregon and a chance to defend their tournament title. Pull that off, and they'll earn an automatic bid to the NAIA Championships, which run March 11-17 in Sioux City, Iowa.

SOU is still a virtual lock to earn an at-large bid to its first national tournament since 2009. The tournament field will be announced next Thursday. If Eastern Oregon defeats OIT, SOU gets the league's second automatic bid for finishing second during the regular season.

The Raiders got 16 points apiece from Courtney West (Sydney, Australia/Port Hacking) (nine rebounds) and Carly Meister (Elma, Wash./Elma) (five rebounds, three blocks), who combined for 24 of those points before halftime. Alexi Smith (Bakersfield, Calif./Stockdale) scored 13 of her 15 in the second frame, where the Raiders threatened to run away for their 10th straight win overall.

Tied at 50, Smith scored eight unanswered points on three buckets and two free throws before Demi Sahlinger (Napavine, Wash./Napavine) drilled consecutive jumpers to make it 62-50. LeVeque stopped the bleeding with a triple and the Owls began to chip away, responding with a 17-4 run that swung the score in OIT's favor on Whetstone's jumper that made it 67-66 with 4:30 left.

The lead would change hands six times in the final 4:03, starting with Meister's layup on SOU's ensuing possession. With 1:52 left, Ashley Claussen (Scotts Valley, Calif./Santa Cruz) pulled up in the lane for a contested jumper that put the Raiders ahead 74-73. They didn't score again.

Following Armstrong's go-ahead jumper, SOU missed a 3-pointer but was given a golden opportunity. Armstrong drove to the basket and missed an uncontested layup with 13 seconds left, but the Raiders turned it over to LeVeque nine seconds later.

LeVeque totaled five steals and four rebounds, while Carrie Thibault had six points, four assists and three steals.  The Owls, who forced 21 turnovers, shot 9-for-19 from downtown.

Claussen had seven points, five rebounds and three assists for SOU.

The Raiders had won their previous nine home games by an average of 26 points, including an 84-54 drubbing of OIT on Feb. 14. 
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