CCC CHAMPIONSHIPS PRESENTED BY U.S. BANK
FEB. 27 – QUARTERFINALS
(1) Southern Oregon 71, (8) Corban 55
(2) Oregon Tech 59, (7) Evergreen 50
(3) Lewis-Clark State 78, (6) College of Idaho 57
(4) Eastern Oregon 83, (5) Bushnell 62
MARCH 1 – SEMIFINALS
(1) Southern Oregon 53, (4) Eastern Oregon 44
(3) Lewis-Clark State 75, (2) Oregon Tech 60
MONDAY – CHAMPIONSHIP
5:30 p.m. – Lewis-Clark State at Southern Oregon

TICKETS | LIVE STREAM | LIVE STATS
Note: Regular season ticket passes not valid for CCC Tournament games

THE MATCHUP: For the second time in 10 days, No. 18-ranked Southern Oregon and No. 11 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) will go head-to-head with a trophy on the line. The Raiders (26-4 overall) claimed the first piece of hardware, winning a thrilling 60-58 affair on Feb. 24 when Kami Walk scooped in a go-ahead basket with 1.6 seconds left to snatch the Cascade Conference regular-season championship from the Warriors (25-4). The second will be awarded Monday in the title game of the CCC Championships presented by U.S. Bank, which tips off at 5:30 p.m. inside Lithia Motors Pavilion. It represents a rubber match between the teams – LC State dominated the first regular-season clash, 68-42, on Jan. 12 in Lewiston – and is a rematch of the 2022 championship game, which the Raiders took in 56-34 upset fashion on the road for their seventh title. LC State also dropped last year's championship at Eastern Oregon, 75-59. The Warriors are 9-5 overall in the head-to-head series.

POSTSEASON PICTURE: Regardless of what happens tonight, both SOU and LC State know they'll be home when the NAIA National Tournament begins in 11 days. Based on their performances to this point, they were among 16 hosts selected last week for the first and second rounds March 15-16. The complete 64-team bracket will be revealed at 5 p.m. Thursday. Following the first and second rounds, the last 16 teams standing will travel to Sioux City, Iowa, and play out the rest of the tournament March 21-26 at the Tyson Events Center.

SEMIFINALS IN REVIEW: The Raiders were dominant in Friday's 53-44 win over No. 4 seed Eastern Oregon, which after winning nine of its previous 10 games mustered just two first-quarter points and shot 27% from the field. Kami Walk had 19 points and 13 rebounds and Meghan McIntyre scored 20 for SOU, which led by as many as 25 points. In Klamath Falls, the Warriors atoned for a 15-point loss a week earlier at Oregon Tech by defeating the Owls 75-60 behind Sitara Byrd's 8-of-8, 25-point display.

WALK TALK: In addition to logging her 26th career double-double against EOU, Kami Walk became the third player in team history to eclipse the 1,600-point mark. The senior is 13 rebounds away from joining Jackie Speer as the only Raiders ever to accumulate both 1,600-plus points and 900-plus boards. In 10 career CCC Tournament games, she has averages of 16.6 points and 7.9 rebounds, including a 26-point effort at LC State in last year's semifinals and a 20-point, nine-rebound line at LC State in the 2022 championship.

MORE ON McINTYRE: Meghan McIntyre has picked up where she left off in the regular season, which she finished with a 20-point game in SOU's championship-clinching win over LCSC. She flirted with a triple-double in the quarterfinals, recording 18 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in a 71-55 win over Corban, then went for 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting in the semis. She has six 20-point games since Jan. 27, a 12-game stretch in which she has averaged 18.6 points and 4.8 assists, shooting 49% from the field and 38% from 3. In CCC regular-season play, she was top-six in points (16.7), assists (4.0) and steals (2.2).

STILL STREAKING: The Raiders have won 16 in a row, one off the second-longest streak in team history. (The 2016-17 team set the record with 21 straight wins.) The Raiders are on an active 10-game home winning streak and are 14-1 overall at Lithia Motors Pavilion. In three seasons under coach Carlotta Kloppenburg-Pruitt, they're 40-4 in Ashland.

DEFENSE IN CONTEXT: SOU's points-allowed average of 52.3 in CCC play was the best mark for any team in the circuit over the last 20 years. The Raiders' overall average against of 52.7 is the fifth-best in the NAIA. The last six opponents to visit Lithia Motors Pavilion have shot 32% combined, and it's been 10 games since a visitor cracked the 60-point mark. CCC Defensive Player of the Year candidate Clara Robbins (1.7 blocks, 1.3 steals) is 10 blocks away from breaking SOU's career record, sitting on 129, and the Raiders rank fourth in the NAIA in blocks per game (4.9).

ABOUT LC STATE: Two-time CCC Player of the Year Callie Stevens (17.3 points) has the Warriors in the title game for the third year in a row. The senior guard averaged 22.7 in her last three matchups with SOU, but was held to 1-of-8 shooting against the Raiders in the 2022 title game. She, Ellie Sander (13.2 points, 3.9 assists) and Sitara Byrd (8.8 points, 6.7 rebounds) make up one of the NAIA's most potent backcourts, but their frontcourt took a big hit when All-CCC forward Maddie Holm went out with an injury 15 games into the season. The Warriors still own the 15th-best offensive rating in the NAIA and they've hit more 3-pointers than any team in the conference on a 35% clip. They'd won 15 straight games before ending the regular season with losses at OIT and SOU.