5:30 p.m. Friday – SOU at Corban – Live Stats/Stream
5:30 p.m. Saturday – SOU at Northwest Christian – Live Stats/Stream
6 p.m. Monday – SOU at Western Oregon – Live Stats/Stream

ASHLAND – The target on the fifth-ranked Southern Oregon women's basketball team's back is as big as ever going into the Raiders' Cascade Conference openers this weekend, and their worthiness of it will continue to be tested on the road – at least for two more games.

SOU's title defense begins Friday at Corban (6-2 overall) and Saturday at Northwest Christian (3-4), which were picked to finish fifth and fourth, respectively, in the CCC. Both games tip off at 5:30 p.m., and the Raiders (6-1) will stay up north for Monday's 6 p.m. nonleague game at Western Oregon (4-3) that will be the former rivals' first matchup in 10 seasons.

By the time the Raiders finally appear in Ashland – Dec. 17 and 18 against Evergreen State at Northwest, both at 1 p.m. – they will have already played 12 times (including two exhibitions) and gone 44 days without a home game since their initial outing. The good news is they've been tough to beat everywhere in CCC play: Since Jan. 1, 2014, their record in conference road games is 21-5, including a 9-1 mark last season.

Talking Turnovers: SOU leaned on its defense in 2015-16 by making it a ball-pressure oriented, turnover-generating machine. The approach has spilled over into the new season, and the results have been similar. After ranking third in the NAIA with an average turnover margin of plus-7.1 last year, the Raiders are at plus-8 now and have picked up 90 steals compared to their opponents' 42 – led by Tiani Bradford's 20 and Toria Bradford's 18. Since a season-opening loss at Lewis-Clark State, the second-ranked team at the NAIA Division I level, the Raiders haven't allowed an opponent to shoot better than 37 percent from the field.

They're also taking better care of the ball, with an assist-to-turnover ratio (1.3) that ranks seventh in the country; their opponents, on the other hand, have had a 0.6 ratio this year and last. Since posting 41 assists and 52 turnovers through their first three games, the Raiders totaled 92 assists and 45 turnovers over their last four. Demi Sahlinger's 5.1 assists per game rank seventh in the NAIA, and her identical assist-to-turnover ratio ranks second. Behind her, Tiani Bradford's 2.7 assist-to-turnover ratio is second-best in the CCC; the third-best number on the list is 1.6.

Briefly:
– Autumn Durand, the reigning CCC player of the week, has seen significant spike in scoring (18.6) and rebounding (10.3) after posting career-bests of 11.6 and 7.4 last season. She's also gotten slightly more efficient, as she has every season. Her field-goal percentages, starting with her freshman year: 44, 46, 50, 52.
– Sydney Mullings enters the weekend with averages of 10.7 points and 8.1 rebounds and has posted three consecutive double-doubles. Through her first 30 games as a Raider, she didn't have any.
– Majerle Reeves (22-of-47) and Delaney Sparling (13-of-28) own the second- and third-best 3-point percentages in the CCC.
– SOU's team free-throw percentage is up from last year's respectable 71.6 mark to 74.6 now. In their last three games, the Raiders have made 36 of 41 attempts at the line – a clip of 88 percent.

About the Opponents: The Raiders are 38-26 against Corban and have won six of seven, including both meetings last year, since ending a seven-game slide that stretched from 2009-12. First-year head coach Michelle Skyles, who previously spent eight years as an assistant at Seattle Pacific, brought with her senior forward Maddey Pflaumer (14.4 points, 7.4 rebounds) to join a front line that already featured seniors Payton Wilcox (13.5 points, 4.9 rebounds) and Sadie Pilgeram (10 points, 6 rebounds). The Warriors rank ninth in the NAIA in both opponents' field-goal percentage (33.9) and 3-point percentage (25.0).

SOU defeated Northwest Christian three times last year, including a 92-62 rout in the CCC tournament semifinals, and leads the series 17-3. Two of those losses, though, have occurred at NCU in the last five years. Monique Thompson, a first-team All-CCC performer and the conference's co-defensive player of the year in 2015-16, leads the team at 16.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and two steals per game. Niki Duncan – the top 3-point threat for a team that shoots 29 percent from distance – adds 13.1 points in the backcourt.

Western Oregon – which went NCAA Div. II after winning the CCC championship in 1997-98 – is 49-14 against the Raiders in a series that saw the end of their conference rivalry after SOU defeated the Wolves, 78-65, in the 1998 CCC tournament final. SOU won the last two nonleague meetings but will be tasked with stopping junior guard Shelby Snook, who averages 17.6 points in her first year with the team.