No. 4 RAIDER WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (15-0, 9-0 CCC)
12 p.m. Friday – vs. No. 19 Lewis-Clark State (14-2, 8-2) | Live Stats
6:30 p.m. Saturday – vs. Walla Walla (4-12, 1-9) | Live Stats
TICKETS | LIVE STREAMS

ASHLAND – A circle-the-date caliber matchup is on tap this weekend as the No. 4-ranked Southern Oregon women's basketball team puts its perfect record on the line at Lithia Motors Pavilion.

The Raiders (15-0 overall, 9-0 CCC) play seven of their next nine at home, a stretch that begins with Friday's noon matinee against No. 19 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) (14-2, 8-2). It'll be the teams' first meeting since SOU stole the CCC regular-season and tournament championships from the Warriors in a span of 10 days last winter. At 6:30 p.m. Saturday, the Raiders wrap up the first half of their conference slate against last-place Walla Walla (Wash.) (4-12, 1-9). They enter the weekend one win away from matching SOU's 2015-16 squad for the best start in program history.

NAIA TOP 25: In the first NAIA Top 25 coaches' poll since Dec. 11, SOU remained at No. 4 in Wednesday's latest edition. The top three teams in the poll also stayed in place with each maintaining unbeaten records. Elsewhere in the CCC, LC State fell six spots to No. 19 and Oregon Tech continued to receive votes at No. 27 overall. The next poll will be released on Jan. 29.  

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW: The Raiders shot over 50% in back-to-back games for the first time in nine years during their annual trek to Portland, cruising 95-55 at Multnomah and 87-56 at Warner Pacific to their fifth and sixth consecutive 30-plus-point wins. Morgan Baird shot 10-of-11 with 21 points at MU, hitting her first nine attempts from the field, and Emma Schmerbach logged 18 points, seven rebounds and two steals. Baird went for 16 more and Schmerbach for 15 points, eight assists, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks at WPU, where Meghan McIntyre registered a season-high 18 points. Schmerbach's big weekend also included a shutdown of the CCC's leading scorer, Multnomah guard Jersey Huerta, whom she held to a 1-of-9 night.

BRIEFLY:

• Since last January's 68-42 loss on LC State's home court, the Raiders have won 29 consecutive regular-season games, 23 consecutive CCC games, and 18 in a row on the road.
• If the season ended today, SOU's marks of 47.8% from the field and 38.4% on 3-pointers would be the best in team history. On the NAIA leaderboard, the Raiders are fourth in 3-point percentage, sixth in field-goal percentage, fifth in offensive rating (110.9 points/100 possessions) and eighth in defensive rating (73.5 points allowed/100 possessions). Only one other team, Williams Baptist (Ark.), ranks top-10 in both offensive and defensive rating, though LC State is 11th and 12th in those respective categories.
• Clara Robbins, SOU's new all-time leader in blocked shots with 154, is now top-15 in rebounds with 623. Her average of 1.2 blocks per game this season is the third-highest in the conference.
• The Raiders have three of the CCC's top-eight in field goal percentage in Morgan Baird (60.6), Eliza DiGiulio (51.1) and Emma Schmerbach (50.0), as well as three of the top-eight in 3-point percentage in Bridgette McIntyre (46.8), Sierra Scheppele (41.3) and Mallory Williams (40.5). McIntyre's clip is the 19th-best in the NAIA, and only one player who ranks ahead of her is averaging more than McIntyre's 2.9 makes per game from 3.
• Baird is third on the CCC's scoring leaderboard (14.5 points) and first in field-goal percentage (60.6). She has delivered double-figure point totals in 11 of 13 outings, and only twice has she made fewer than half of her attempts.
• In addition to helping the Raiders average fewer turnovers per game (11.7) than any CCC team, senior point guard Meghan McIntyre is fourth in steals (2.7), sixth in assists (3.7) and 24th in points (10.2). She averaged 15.0 points and 4.0 assists in three matchups against LC State last season.
• Since falling behind 16-0 at Oregon Tech, the Raiders have outscored opponents by an average margin of 11.5 points in first quarters.
• They've allowed fewer than 60 points in 12 consecutive games. The last 12 CCC opponents to visit Ashland have scored under 60, and eight of those landed under 50.
• The Raiders are 44-5 at home under fourth-year head coach Carlotta Kloppenburg-Pruitt, a 30-3 record in CCC play included.

ABOUT LC STATE: Despite the graduation of three-time CCC Player of the Year Callie Stevens, the Warriors are well-positioned to make a run at a seventh consecutive appearance in the NAIA National Tournament. Their veteran backcourt of senior all-star Ellie Sander (12.9 points, 2.8 steals) and junior Sitara Byrd (10.9 points, 2.9 steals) has stepped up in Stevens' place. In the frontcourt, sophomore Darian Herring (11.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 3.1 blocks) has taken a leap to become one of the circuit's top players; she logged a triple-double in her last outing. Though they own the NAIA's fourth-best field-goal percentage (48.1), the Warriors are perhaps at their best on the defensive end, leading the CCC in both blocks (5.0) and turnovers forced (22.9) per game. Their lone slip-ups came on back-to-back nights at home last month, against Eastern Oregon and College of Idaho, and they've won four straight since. They're 9-6 all-time against SOU but dropped two of three matchups last season, 60-58 for the CCC regular-season title and 59-53 for the tournament championship.

ABOUT WALLA WALLA: The Wolves have struggled since a 3-3 showing in non-conference play, notching their only CCC win two weeks ago at Multnomah. Their offense produces just 55.5 points per game, though it has three double-figure scorers in Chariah Daniels (14.1 points), Jaylo Bello (12.8) and Natalie Trevino (10.7). Daniels, a 5-foot-10 senior who was an All-CCC selection last season, is one of two players in the conference averaging a double-double with a league-best 10.9 rebounds per game. SOU is 17-0 in the series against the Wolves and has yet to win a matchup by fewer than 13 points.