Big First Half Leads Raiders To Victory

(Ashland, Oregon) - The Southern Oregon women shot 55 percent from the field in the first half and cruised to an 81-64 victory over William Jessup tonight at McNeal Pavilion.

Southern Oregon improved to 5-4 on the season and opens Cascade Conference play Friday at Concordia. William Jessup dropped to 0-8 on the season.

Alexi Smith led the Raiders with 15 points on 7-for-12 shooting in just 17 minutes of work. Josi McDermott added 12 points and Whitney Scott had 11 points.

Cassie Davidson had 16 points to lead William Jessup.

Southern Oregon jumped on the Warriors early as back-to-back 3-pointers by Carly Wood and Scott pushed the SOU advantage to 17-6. Nalani Barnes pushed the lead to 14 with a layup after a steal and back-to-back layups by Smith and Kiara Moore gave SOU their biggest lead of the first half at 34-14 with 6:56 to play.

In the second half, the Raiders pushed the lead up to 24 twice, first on a 3-pointer by Molly Doran for a 69-45 lead and then on a jumper by Scott for a 71-47 lead.

Southern Oregon forced 20 turnovers, while only committing 10. Barnes led the SOU defensive effort with 13 steals.

Source: Southern Oregon University