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WEDNESDAY December 31, 2003 - Subscribe - Contact Us Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels December 19, 2003 SOU women make statement in CC victory Hilaire, Porter spearhead key win over Western Baptist By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings McNeal Pavilion seems to be the place to be for the Southern Oregon women's basketball team. It's also a place opponents dread. Satsuki Doi | Ashland Daily Tidings Southern oregon senior guard Lindsey Hilaire drives around a Western Baptist defender during Cascade Conference women's basketball action Thursday night at McNeal Pavilion. The Raiders ended up winning the game, 72-64. The Raiders (3-5, 2-0) have won 14 consecutive home games and 21 conference contests following a 72-64 tussle against Western Baptist (5-6, 1-1) Thursday night. "We stepped up against a very good team," third-year Raider head coach Kevin Wilson said. "That was a quality win tonight, a quality team win." Western Baptist had been picked as the No. 2 team in the Cascade Conference by a preseason poll, behind Oregon Tech. Instead of the romp the Raiders had feared, SOU led the entire second half, shutting down the Warriors' run offense by holding Western Baptist to just 23 percent from three-point land (3 of 13). Late bloomers Though the Raiders owned the first lead of the game, a 1-0 margin off of a free throw by junior forward Robyn Ward seconds into the contest, the Warriors responded with an 8-0 run that Southern simply couldn't come back from. The Raiders pulled within three on a jumper by senior guard Lindsey Hilaire seven minutes into the game, but 5-8 was as close as the home team would be for quite awhile. With a balanced scoring attack that saw every Warrior player score in the first half, Western Baptist exploited Raider mistakes as WB padded its lead. The Warriors led by as many as 12 points in the first half. "Western Baptist, they were rolling there for a while," Wilson said. "It seems like, the last two games, we just feel teams out for a bit." The one-two punch With five minutes to go in the first half, the Raiders began their delayed attack. Using the team's big guns - Hilaire and junior guard Camille Porter - Southern put together a 14-4 scoring drive to end the first 20 minutes with a one-point lead at 30-29. It all started with a baseline three-pointer by Porter, who nabbed six treces on the night. Western Baptist would score once more, but then the Raiders ran with it. Hilaire went to the line and sank two, then Porter added another three. In two and a half minutes, the Warriors lead had shrunk from a daunting 12-point spread to a realistic six-point spread and the Raiders weren't done yet. Hilaire added another free throw, followed by two aces from the charity stripe by Porter. See a pattern? Western Baptist, muffled by a diehard Raider defense, finally found a shot with 1:07 left in the half. Go-to girl, senior center Toran Lundgreen, tallied two points from under the basket to help the Warriors, but that was the last time the Warriors would lead. Porter responded by lobbing in another three-pointer, her third in four minutes. Then, with 33 seconds left in the half, Hilaire stepped away from the foul line to attempt a three of her own and found net, giving the Raiders their first lead since the opening score of the game. Playing to win With the comeback already in the books, Southern could play the second half to win instead of just stretching to stay in the game. The Raiders scored the first two baskets of the half, bolstering their lead to five, but the Warriors weren't done. Western Baptist took advantage of Raider fouls that sent three WB players to the line in the first four minutes and with 15:13 left in the game, the Warriors tied everything up at 39. So Southern did what any team would do: play tougher defense. "I thought our defense played very well tonight," Wilson explained. "Defense was our number one key again tonight. The only reason we were ahead was our defense." The Raiders manage to curb everyone on the Warriors' team but Lundgreen, who scored half of Western Baptist's second-half points. Meanwhile, Southern kept plugging away at the basket. With eight minutes left in the game, the Raiders faced a still-too-close 54-50 score. Using a 15-4 run, including seven points from sophomore forward Emily Brough, Southern put a comfortable 19-point cushion between the lead and the Warriors, with 3:16 left in regulation. Finishing is good Somehow, Western Baptist made a comeback. Two baskets coupled with two three-pointers erased much of the Raider lead. With a minute left, the Raiders were barely staving off a Warrior win as the scores inched closer at 69-65. "That's because they're young," Wilson said. "They just need to learn to settle down. "The thing I told them to take from this game is to look at the time and the score. When we're ahead, we can't let the other team score while the clock's stopped." The Warriors, on the other hand, encouraged the Raiders to score when the clock was frozen. That made all the difference in the game. Western Baptist fouled Hilaire twice in the final minute of the game, sending the senior backbone of the team to the line for four clutch free-throws. She nailed three of them. "We look to her for leadership and we want the ball in her hands at the end of the game," Wilson said of Hilaire. "Lindsey's doing it all. She's leading the team and there's no way she's going to let this team lose." Hilaire didn't. The Raiders pulled away with a 72-64 win that nestles the team at the top of the Cascade Conference going into the holiday break. Big numbers While the Warriors got almost half of their points (24) and a quarter of their rebounds (11 of 42) from Lundgreen, the Raiders spread the wealth around. Brough put together a double-double performance for Southern, scoring 14 points and pulling down 14 boards. Porter and Hilaire also finished with double-digit scoring efforts. Porter had a team-high 22 points, including six three-pointers. Hilaire added 19 points and made six of eight free-throws to push SOU over the Warriors in Southern's last contest for 11 days. "I just really couldn't be prouder of these girls," Wilson said. "The best Christmas present I could have had was them feeling this good going into the holidays." The Raiders resume play with a non-conference match-up against Westminster College at McNeal Pavilion on December 29. The game tips off at 6 p.m. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - ODOT Road Cams