CCC CHAMPIONSHIPS PRESENTED BY U.S. BANK
TUESDAY – QUARTERFINALS
(1) Northwest Christian 90, (8) Northwest (Wash.) 67
(2) Eastern Oregon 62, (7) College of Idaho 48
(3) Southern Oregon 60, (6) Warner Pacific 54
(5) Corban 71, (4) Oregon Tech 59
FRIDAY – SEMIFINALS
Southern Oregon 76, Eastern Oregon 69
Northwest Christian 76, Corban 51
MONDAY – CHAMPIONSHIP
7 p.m. – Southern Oregon at Northwest Christian

LA GRANDE – The visiting locker room at Quinn Coliseum hasn't been the site of many Southern Oregon University celebrations in recent memory, so the Raiders took an extended moment Friday to soak in a night they won't soon forget on their rivals' home floor.

Four days and a couple of improbable turns of events after the Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank began, SOU is moving on to March.

The Raiders punched their tickets to the CCC Tournament title game and the NAIA Division II National Tournament by knocking off 25th-ranked Eastern Oregon, 76-69 in the semifinal round, despite facing a 10-point deficit going into the fourth quarter.

They'd lost their first regular-season meeting against the Mountaineers by 23 points, and the next by 22. They hadn't won in La Grande since 2014 and were down 59-49 after Taylor Stricklin's 3-pointer beat the third-quarter buzzer, but executed a 15-2 run to start the fourth, where sophomore guard Dominique Harding pushed them with 10 of her 14 points.

SOU (20-9) will play 16th-ranked Northwest Christian at 7 p.m. Monday in Eugene for the title. Because the Beacons secured the CCC's first national tournament bid by winning the regular-season title, the circuit's second bid automatically goes to SOU by virtue of reaching the final.

"To get to experience that locker room tonight, that's a special moment to see this group get rewarded in this fashion in a place where we haven't won since I've been here," said SOU's Alex Carlson, who will take the Raiders to the national tournament for the fourth time in his five seasons as head coach.

If Tuesday's game-ending run of 14 unanswered points to eliminate Warner Pacific in the quarterfinals elicited relief, this one sparked pure jubilation. While likely denying the Mountaineers (22-9) a fourth straight berth in the national field, the Raiders needed contributions up and down their lineup.

Junior guard Kenadee Honaker – in her second game back after missing five due to injury – scored 10 points in the first quarter, her highest single-game output since Jan. 4, to help neutralize EOU's 6-of-8 display from 3 during the period. Sophomore guard Kalei Iwami stepped up by scoring 10 of her 15 in the second half, helping the Raiders claw back by connecting on 3-of-4 attempts downtown.

Syd'Nee Fryer started the fourth-quarter push by knocking down a 3 on the Raiders' first possession, and she stared down a defender to hit the game-clinching triple with 34 seconds left, making it 74-69.

Back-to-back 3s from Harding and Kami Walk gave the Raiders their first lead since the opening stanza at 64-61 in front of a stunned crowd with 6:19 left. After EOU cut it to 66-65, Iwami hit another to extend the advantage to four with 4:02 to play.

"I think we're in a place where our resiliency is really high right now," Carlson said. "We just let them know there's no 10-point plays and we have to do it a possession at a time, and we just continued to attack and made plays when we needed them. You can say there were five, six people making huge plays down the stretch and we needed all of them."

Fryer finished with nine points and 12 rebounds, including five on the offensive end. Senior point guard Daranda Hinkey had nine points and four assists, hitting three 3-pointers as the Raiders finished 13-of-28 from deep. Harding also had six rebounds and four steals.

EOU, after shooting 10-of-24 from 3 through the first three quarters, went 1-of-9 in the fourth. Rachel Fielder and Jane Nelson scored 13 points each.

"I gotta commend our leaders, especially Daranda, doing everything you hope a senior will do in terms of pulling the team together, and the same goes for Delaney Sparling continuing to lead us even when her shots weren't falling," Carlson said. "They deserve to be rewarded for it."

The NAIA DII Tournament will be held March 11-17 in Sioux City, Iowa, and the 32-team bracket will be revealed Wednesday. SOU will be making its 12th overall appearance at the final site.