Southern Oregon scored the first basket, but Warner Pacific scored the next 14 points to and held a double-digit lead for almost the entire game as the Knights defeated the Raiders 61-49 in Cascade Collegiate Conference women’s basketball action Friday night.
The loss drops Southern Oregon’s record to 12-11 overall and 3-9 in conference play, while Warner Pacific improves to 14-8 overall and 8-3 in the CCC. Southern Oregon returns to action Saturday night, when the Raiders will face Concordia in a 5:30 p.m. game at Cavalier Gymnasium.
RaTanya Newsome led the Raiders with 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting, and she added a team-high seven assists and three steals in the loss.Molly Doran added 12 points and Nalani Hernandez grabbed a team-leading seven rebounds.
Chelsey Christensen’s 17 points led a group of three Knights with double-figures, with Cameryn Calhoun adding 15 and Kelsey Mattsen finishing with 14. Points and seven assists. Christensen’s nine rebounds fell one short of a double-double.
Angelica Cahee put the first points on the board for the Raiders, but Christensen tied the score with a bucket and the Knights scored used a 14-point streak to take a 12-point lead. Warner Pacific extended its lead to as many as 17 points in the first half, and led 31-18 at halftime.
The Raiders scored the first five points of the second half to pull within eight, but the Knights used an 18-8 run to push their lead to a game-high 18 points midway through the second half. A 14-4 SOU run a few minutes later pulled the visitors back within eight with three minutes left to play, but SOU would not score again the rest of the way.
Southern Oregon shot 34.5 percent (19-of-55) from the field in the contest, while Warner Pacific shot 40 percent (24-of-60). Both teams finished with 40 rebounds, and SOU turned the ball over 20 times compared to 14 for WPC.
