LA GRANDE – Southern Oregon's odds of claiming a piece of a third consecutive Cascade Conference championship plummeted with Friday evening's 57-48 loss to No. 14-ranked Eastern Oregon at Quinn Coliseum.

The penultimate day of the regular season began with five teams tied for first place and ended with only EOU (23-4 overall, 15-4 CCC) and Corban (22-5, 15-4) on top. The Mountaineers pushed the Raiders (19-8, 14-5) out of the deadlock by outscoring them 30-18 in the second half.

EOU, which was run out of Lithia Motors Pavilion with a 67-43 loss in the teams' first meeting, got even by holding SOU to 28% shooting from the field. Kali Kast had 12 points, seven rebounds and two steals, Raquel Fehringer scored 11, and Brinley Hagemeier provided 10 key points off the bench.

The Raiders held EOU leading scorer Kelsie Siegner to one basket, but it was a big one: with the Mountaineers leading 48-46 and 3:10 remaining, she launched a 3-pointer from the top of the arc that went straight through.

SOU reduced the deficit to 51-48 on a pair of Bridgette McIntyre free throws with 2:47 left and got the ball back with a chance to tie, but was shut out the rest of the way.

McIntyre had team-highs of 15 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Raiders. Eliza DiGiulio scored 14, and Gracie Arnold collected six boards off the bench.

The Raiders play their final regular-season game at 2 p.m. PT Saturday against College of Idaho. They can still finish as high as the No. 3 seed and as low as the No. 6 seed.

Corban – which earned a monumental win Friday at Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) – is all but guaranteed at least a share of the CCC title given the Warriors play Saturday at 1-18 Walla Walla (Wash.). EOU has to defeat Oregon Tech (which lost Friday at C of I) to also get a share.

The No. 1 seed will host the entire CCC Tournament beginning next Friday. In a tiebreaker scenario between Corban and EOU, EOU would get the No. 1 seed if SOU wins and Corban would get it if the Raiders lose.