LEWISTON – The No. 10 Warrior women avenged last season’s loss to No. 23 Southern Oregon in the Cascade Conference tournament title game with a 54-48 victory on Saturday. Callie Stevens scored a team-high 20 points for the second night in a row with a 4-for-7 night from behind the 3-point line.
The Warriors rallied for 20 unanswered points in the first half to turn an 18-4 deficit into a 24-18 advantage. The LC State defense held the Raiders to just five points in the second quarter.
With the victory, LC State is 16-1 on the season and 11-0 in Cascade Conference play. The Warriors have won 16 straight contests.
Southern Oregon started the back-and-forth with a 7-0 advantage before buckets by Maddie Holm and Ellie Sander put the Warriors on the board. The Raiders added eight more to push the margin to 18-4, then LC State exploded for 20 straight points.
A 3 by Sander got the run going at 2:58, and Adyson Clabby and Stevens hit back-to-back triples. Stevens ended the first quarter with a jumper to bring LC within three, 18-15.
The rally continued with tallies from Sara Muehlhausen, Hannah Broyles and Lindsey Wilson to put the Warriors up 24-18 at the 6:14 mark. SOU cut the lead to one before a 3 by Stevens ended the half with LC leading 27-23.
The Raiders battled to take a 35-32 lead in a low-scoring third frame and pushed the difference to 41-35 with 7:34 to play in the fourth.
The Warriors finished the comeback with a final push in the final seven minutes. Sander got the offense going with a layup to spark a run of 12. Stevens added five points in the run, Sander tallied four and Muehlhausen added a free throw to give LC a 47-41 edge with 4:37 on the clock.
Back-to-back buckets by Holm and Payton Hymas pushed the advantage to eight, 51-43, in the final 90 seconds, and Stevens and Sitara Byrd closed out the scoring with the Warriors ahead 54-48.
Stevens led all scorers with 20 points to go with four assists. Sander added 11 with seven rebounds and two blocks, and Holm grabbed 10 rebounds. Muehlhausen grabbed nine boards and blocked five shots, and Byrd also grabbed seven rebounds.
The Warriors led the battle at the board 47-44, with the difference being three offensive rebounds.
Brianna Phiakhamngon led SOU with 12 points, and Clara Robbins grabbed 11 rebounds.
