PORTLAND – The Southern Oregon women's basketball team got the stops it needed down the stretch, holding Warner Pacific scoreless on its last six possessions to close out a 61-57 Cascade Conference win Friday night at Bart Valentine Court.
The Raiders (7-5 overall, 3-2 CCC) scored their last five points at the free-throw line and took the lead for good at 58-57 on a pair from
Bryanna Raff with 1 minute 49 seconds to go.
Dominique Harding recorded the last three to finish with a team-high 15 points, stopping a three-game winning streak for the Knights (6-8, 3-3).
Harding pocketed four steals while Raff,
Daranda Hinkey and
Kenadee Honaker had two apiece in helping SOU force 25 turnovers. The Knights committed eight of those in the fourth quarter, where they were also held to 4-of-13 shooting.
SOU trailed by as many as eight points in the third but ended the period on a 12-4 run and opened the next with a Hinkey 3-pointer to go up 49-44.
Hinkey hit all three of her 3-point tries as SOU went 11-of-25 as a team.
Kalei Iwami and
Delaney Sparling, two catalysts of the second-half turnaround, combined for five 3-pointers and scored 11 points each.
Iwami's final 3 gave the Raiders a 56-51 edge with four minutes left before the Knights reclaimed the lead with a 6-0 spurt. After Gabriella Bruno's jumper gave them their first advantage of the fourth,
Syd'Nee Fryer dumped off to Raff inside to set up the go-ahead free throws.
The win was SOU's 15th in a row against WPU and eighth straight on the Knights' home court.
Bruno was the only Knight in double figures with 22 points, 20 of which were recorded in the second and third quarters. WPU had a 19-11 edge in the second before slowing down offensively, finishing with a 35-percent clip from the field.
Fryer contributed seven points and eight rebounds for the Raiders, who will remain in Portland for Saturday's 5:30 p.m. CCC matchup against Multnomah.