After a slow start, the Southern Oregon University women’s basketball team bounced back to defeat the Corban Warriors 86-75 in Friday night’s Cascade Collegiate Conference matchup at Bob Riehm Arena.
The Raiders improve to 20-9 overall and 9-8 in CCC play while Corban falls to 9-19 overall and 5-12 in conference.
SOU finished on top with the efforts of junior forward Alexi Smith who had a game high of 23 points, shooting 8-of-11 from the field with eight rebounds. Junior guard Allison Gida added 19 points of her own while senior Krysten Copeland totaled 12 points and six rebounds.
For the Warriors, forward Tara Vanweerdhuizen led her team with 22 points as guard Emily Tsugawa added 14 points.
The Raiders struggled rebounding throughout the night falling behind to the Warriors 13-20 early on in the first half of play. Southern Oregon bounced back to take the lead before going into the break as Smith totaled 17 of her points in the first half alone shooting 6-of-7 from the field.
SOU continued to have problems rebounding in the second half allowing Corban to fight back and gain the lead with just over 13 minutes to play. Corban won the battle under the basket, out rebounding the Raiders 50-26.
Southern Oregon continued to fight throughout the game and gained the lead thanks to an 8-0 run late in the second half to regain the lead with 1:23 left to play.
The Raiders return tomorrow night to take on conference opponent Northwest Christian at 5:30 p.m. for the last home game of the season.
