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

ASHLAND – The halfway point of the Cascade Conference schedule is nearing, and the gap separating the top teams from everyone else is already widening.

Unbeaten and seventh-ranked Eastern Oregon remains in first place, while No. 10 Southern Oregon (14-1 overall, 6-1 CCC) and No. 15 Northwest Christian (13-1, 6-1) will break a tie for second at 5:30 p.m. Friday in Eugene. Directly behind them in the standings are four four-loss teams, including Corban (9-7, 5-4), which the Raiders will visit at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in Salem.

At 14-1 overall, the Raiders are off to the third-best start in team history; they won their first 16 games two years ago and were 21-1 at one point a season ago. Extending their seven-game winning streak at Northwest Christian would mean scoring a top-25 road win in a CCC regular-season game for the first time since they upset No. 8 College of Idaho during the 2008-09 season.

NAIA Top 25: In Tuesday's first NAIA Division II coaches' poll since Dec. 12, the Raiders made a one-spot jump to No. 10. They're one of six teams in the country with one or no losses, a group that includes top-ranked Concordia (Neb.). Eastern Oregon also moved up one spot to No. 7, while Northwest Christian's nine-spot climb to No. 15 represented the most dramatic upward movement in the poll. Prior to this season, the Beacons had never been ranked.

Last Time Out: Though the Raiders went to overtime in an exhibition at NCAA Division I foe San Jose State on Dec. 20, they hadn't been to overtime in a counter since Jan. 24, 2015 at Eastern Oregon until last Tuesday's 83-79 win at Oregon Tech. The decisive sequence was duly dramatic: OIT's missed free throw enabled Ariel Augustine to tie the game on a put-back with seven seconds left, a turnover on OIT's ensuing attempt at a press-break gave the ball back to the Raiders, and Casey Williams banked in a turnaround jumper for the go-ahead score with four seconds to spare. Remi Mejia's career-high 30 points were the story until SOU lost what had been an eight-point lead with 1:22 remaining in regulation, and Toria Bradford poured in 21 points with six assists.

Briefly:
– The Raiders have received a recent uptick in production from junior forward Ariel Augustine, who averaged 17 points on 48-percent shooting and 7.3 rebounds over their last four games. Prior to that stretch, she averaged nine points on 31-percent shooting and 3.5 rebounds.
– Four teams are averaging at least nine made 3-pointers per game in CCC play: EOU (12.9), Warner Pacific (9.6), SOU (9.3) and NCU (9.1). Never before has more than one team finished the season averaging nine or more makes per game. Remi Mejia, the second-leading scorer in CCC action at 17.3 points per game, has hit at least three 3-pointers in 10 consecutive games.
– Since Alex Carlson took over in 2015-16, the Raiders are 20-3 in conference road games. Carlson is now 74-8 overall (.902), already ranking third on SOU's all-time wins list.

About Northwest Christian:
– After sitting in fourth place the last two seasons, the Beacons are aiming for their first top-three finish in team history.
– Anamaria Virjoghe, a 6-foot-5 freshman center from Romania, has come on to average team-bests of 14.9 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game. Another freshman, Morgan McKinney, has sparked the Beacons with clips of 12.7 points and 3.9 rebounds. As a team, they have the No. 2 field-goal percentage (42.9) and opponents' percentage (35.8) in the CCC.
– SOU is 19-3 in the all-time series against NCU and has won six straight meetings by an average of 27 points.

About Corban:
– Locked in a four-way tie for fourth place, the Warriors were picked sixth in the CCC preseason poll after going 8-12 last season.
– Junior transfer Emily Yost, a 5-11 forward, ranks fifth in points (14.4) and fourth in rebounds (9.0) in CCC play. Sophomore Emily Yost, a transfer from Boise State, is averaging a team-high 15.4 points overall but has missed the last three games. The Warriors shoot 42 percent and are holding opponents to 37, but they're also averaging a league-high 20.4 turnovers per game.
– SOU is 40-26 head-to-head against the Warriors and has won the last seven matchups. The Raiders haven't lost in Salem since the 2011-12 season.