Raider men stifle Evergreen in 74-50 romp

ASHLAND — Southern Oregon's defense limited Evergreen to 21 percent shooting in the first half as the Raiders built a 15-point halftime lead en route to a 74-50 win in Cascade Collegiate Conference men's basketball action Saturday at Bob Riehm Arena.

With the win, Southern Oregon improves to 16-11 overall and 9-7 in conference play. Evergreen falls to 1-25 overall and 0-17 in the CCC. The Raiders will close out the regular season on the road next weekend against Corban and Northwest Christian.

Southern Oregon honored the four seniors on its squad prior to the game — Joe White, Jordan Highland, Sam Osofsky and Scott Tiefenthaler — and all four started in the game, with Highland scoring a game-high 12 points in the win. Terriel Thomas added 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting and 12 different Raiders scored points in the contest.

Evergreen's Patrick Lewis scored 21 points to lead both teams, and he added 10 rebounds to share top honors with Elzie Dickens.

The Geoducks pulled within four points on a Lewis layup nine minutes into the contest before a 15-3 SOU run put the Raiders up 26-10 with three minutes to play in the first half.

Highland made back-to-back baskets to open the second half as the Raiders used a 24-6 run to go ahead by more than 30 points midway through the period. From that point SOU coasted to the 24-point victory.

Southern Oregon shot 45 percent (30-of-67) from the field while limiting Evergreen to 34 percent shooting (20-of-59). The Raiders also outrebounded the Geoducks 45-35 and finished with 17 assists to Evergreen's four.

Women's Basketball

EVERGREEN 58, SOU 53 — At Ashland, Evergreen took its first lead of the game midway through the second half and the Geoducks held off Southern Oregon late to win in Cascade Collegiate Conference action at Bob Riehm Arena.

The loss drops Southern Oregon's record to 14-13 overall and 5-11 in conference play, while Evergreen improves to 6-20 overall and 4-13 in the CCC.

RaTanya Newsome led the Raiders with 17 points and added five rebounds, four assists and four steals. Krysten Copeland finished with 12 points and five rebounds in the loss.

Evergreen's Danielle Swain finished with a game-high 21 points and added eight rebounds. Maddie Graves tallied 12 points and Jessica Edge finished with 10 for the Geoducks.

Southern Oregon led 13-5 early in the first half, but Evergreen scored the next eight points to tie it as SOU went six minutes without making a basket. The Raiders, however, closed the half on a 7-2 run to take a 22-17 halftime lead.

The Geoducks turned things around in the second half and Graves' layup made it 56-48 with only 75 seconds to play.

Molly Doran hit a 3-pointer with exactly one minute to play to pull SOU within five, but Swain made a pair of free throws and the Raiders were unable to grab rebounds on the front end of a couple one-and-one misses.

Softball

SOU GOES 2-1 IN TOURNEY — At Redding, Calif., Southern Oregon dropped a 15-5 game to host Simpson in Saturday's opener before rebounding for a pair of afternoon wins, knocking off Patten 5-1 and Menlo 10-1 to close out the Simpson Tournament.

Simpson battered Southern Oregon (3-3) in Saturday's opener, scoring four runs in the first inning and adding six in the fifth and five more in the sixth to earn a six-inning victory. The Red Hawks tallied their 15 runs on 15 hits with three errors, while SOU finished with five runs on eight hits with three errors.

Karlie Stephens of Eagle Point took the loss for SOU, with Tinity Cutt earning the complete-game victory for Simpson. Irene Barrantes and Stephanie Vandenbusch each homered for the Raiders.

SOU bounced back to knock off Patten in its second game of the day, scoring all five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning after trailing 1-0 in the first. Jordyn Kurtz picked up the win for the Raiders in relief of Chelsea Talbert.