CASCADE COLLEGIATE CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT – CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
7 p.m. Monday – #13 Eastern Oregon (2) at #6 SOU (1) – Live Stats | Live Stream

ASHLAND – More than just bragging rights and a trophy will be at stake when sixth-ranked Southern Oregon hosts 13th-ranked Eastern Oregon in Monday's championship game of the Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament presented by U.S. Bank.

Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Mountain Avenue Gym as the Raiders (27-3 overall) and Mountaineers (27-4) meet in the final for the first time in tournament history for a rubber match after splitting the first two meetings and sharing the CCC regular-season title. Not since 2009 have regular season co-champions met in the tournament.

Both teams are already assured the conference's two automatic bids to the NAIA Division II Championships, the 32-team bracket for which will be revealed Wednesday. A coin flip last Sunday determined EOU would receive the first bid while SOU would get the top seed in the CCC tournament; the Raiders locked down the second bid Friday when the rest of the field was cleared in the semifinals. If the Raiders win, though, they'd be a lock to get a No. 2 seed at the national tournament and would be in the conversation for a No. 1.

The Raiders are 6-1 all-time in the tournament championship game. That includes a 5-0 mark at home, where they defeated Oregon Tech for last year's title. The Mountaineers are seeking their first title since 2013 and their fourth all-time.

Postseason Picture: With their automatic bid, the Raiders will be making their 10th appearance at the national tourney (all since 1997) and third in a row. Last year they became the first CCC team to advance to the national semifinals since College of Idaho in 2001, and reached the championship game for the first time in team history – also getting past the second round for the first time since 1997. The Mountaineers will also be making their 10th trip to the tournament, all since 2004. They reached the quarterfinals in 2012 and '13 but were eliminated in the first round in '14 and '15.

The tournament will be held March 8-14 at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa.

How They Got Here: SOU has won 27 straight home games – 22 of those have been decided by at least 20 points – and kept the streak active by eliminating eighth-seeded Multnomah in Tuesday's quarterfinals, 84-62, and fifth-seeded College of Idaho in Friday's semis, 93-70. Against the Yotes they went 14-of-26 from 3-point range, getting five triples from Majerle Reeves, and point guard Demi Sahlinger's 12-assist and zero-turnover performance helped them shoot 54 percent from the field. Through two rounds they've totaled 25 steals and forced 50 turnovers, keeping them at No. 2 on the NAIA's average turnover margin list (plus-10.8).

The Mountaineers denied seventh-seeded Corban's upset bid in the quarterfinals, 76-66, and dominated third-seeded and 24th-ranked Oregon Tech in the semis, 70-41. Junior guard Maya Ah You has been their catalyst through the first two rounds, averaging 18 points (on 14-of-23 accuracy) and nine rebounds, and as a team they held the Warriors and Owls to 31-percent shooting combined. They allow the second-fewest points per game (55) in the nation.

Head-to-Head: The Raiders took the first matchup, 77-68 on Jan. 14 in Ashland, behind Autumn Durand's 19 points in a game that featured 13 lead changes and six ties. Durand – the CCC's top scorer (16.8) and third-leading rebounder (7.8) – was held to 2-of-10 shooting and her lowest point total of the season (5) in the second meeting, a 74-61 Mountaineers win on Feb. 10 in La Grande. Ah You scored 19 points and Stormee Van Belle added 17 in that one, but an EOU bench that totaled 33 points on 12-of-21 shooting was the difference.

SOU has a 42-41 edge in the all-time series, and EOU last won in Ashland in 2014. The teams' last postseason meeting was in the 2014 semifinals, when the Raiders knocked off the top-seeded Mountaineers, 80-62, in La Grande. EOU dominated SOU in the 2013 semifinals, 83-55, and went on to secure a one-point win against College of Idaho for its most recent crown.

Briefly:
– SOU's 14-of-26 night from downtown came on the heels of seven games in which the Raiders combined to shoot 29 percent beyond the arc. They've hit at least 10 3-pointers in 10 games this season; they've won them by an average of 38 points. Reeves is up to 90 triples, 10 shy of the SOU single-season record established last year by Ashley Claussen.
– Sahlinger's career-high in assists was set while she didn't record a turnover for the fifth time in six games. During that span, she's totaled 26 assists, 13 steals and one turnover. She's up to 373 career assists, 20 away from cracking the top-five in SOU history.
– Tiani Bradford has stuffed the stat sheets with 23 points, 18 rebounds, seven assists and six steals through the first two rounds.
– Durand has scored in double figures 27 times in SOU's last 28 games and Sydney Mullings has done so 14 games in a row. On the conference leaderboards, Durand is first in scoring (16.8), third in rebounding (7.8), fifth in field-goal accuracy (52.0) and 10th in steals (1.9); and Mullings is 10th in scoring (12.7), eighth in rebounding (6.7), first in field-goal percentage (57.4) and seventh in blocks (1.0).
– Toria Bradford's three steals per game rank 10th in the NAIA. In SOU's last five postseason games, she has 17.