ASHLAND, Ore. – All-American Kami Walk found the basket for No. 22 Southern Oregon with two seconds left in the contest on Saturday to help the Raiders edge No. 6 LC State in the regular-season finale. The loss, and an Oregon Tech win over Walla Walla, will secure the No. 3 seed for the Warriors in the Cascade Conference Championship tournament, presented by U.S. Bank, next week.
The Warriors finish regular season with a 23-4 record overall and 19-3 in CCC play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
A Warrior steal orchestrated by Mataya Green led to a basket by Callie Stevens. Stevens, and Ellie Sander and Lindsey Wilson kept the offensive pressure coming to push the opening lead to 8-2 three minutes in. The Raiders picked up their pace to pull within two before a 3 by Stevens had the Warriors in front 17-12 at 4:06.
SOU tied things up before taking the lead with a minute to play in the opening quarter and led 19-17 after 10 minutes.
The Raiders continued their run in the second frame to cap the 12-0 stretch. Green and Stevens went back-to-back for a run of five to bring the Warriors within two, 24-22, at 8:11. Darian Herring tied the score 24-24 and the two teams traded baskets. A triple by Camden Barger and layup by Wilson had LC up 32-31 with 30 seconds to play and that is how the game sat at the half.
Sitara Byrd opened the scoring in the third quarter and Wilson kept the Warriors in front by a slim margin at 36-33 two minutes in. A seven-point run by SOU had the Raiders in front 40-36 before Green and Herring evened the score 40-40 at 4:02. Stevens put LC State back in front with a 3-pointer at 3:19 and Green capped the nine-point run with a layup at 2:35.
SOU scored in the final minute of the third frame and free throws by Stevens sent the game into the fourth quarter with the Warriors in front 47-44.
A pass to Sander from Stevens was the first basket of the final frame to push the lead to 49-44. Sander added another basket to make it 51-44 with eight minutes to play, but back-to-back 3s by the Raiders cut the difference back to one.
Free throws by Sander and Stevens had LC in front 54-52 with 3:55 to play and SOU took a one-point lead 30 seconds later.
A triple by the Raiders had the Warriors trailing 58-57 with 90 seconds to play and a free throw by Byrd had the score tied 58-58 with 15 seconds in the clock.
SOU senior Walk hit a buzzer-beater to clinch the regular-season conference title for the Raiders.
Stevens led all scorers with 23 points in the contest and Green added 10. Byrd grabbed 10 rebounds.
UP NEXT
The Warrior women will likely be the No. 3 seed in the CCC tournament and will take on sixth-seeded College of Idaho in Lewiston. General admission tickets to Tuesday’s CCC quarterfinal are on sale now at lcwarriors.com/tickets.
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