Document text
SOU women race past Husson Strong finish carries Raiders to 80-61 victory By TERRY HERSOM SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- The record didn't fool Shirley Huyett, whose Southern Oregon team is seeded No. 1 in the eighth annual NAIA Division II Women's Basketball Championships. Rival Husson College of Maine, assigned the 32nd spot in a field of 32, came into Wednesday's first-round matchup with a modest 14-13 record. You'd never have guessed it. Thanks to a strong finish, Huyett's heavily favored Raiders turned a two-point game with 8:54 to play into an 81-60 victory, scoring the final 11 points of the night. "They're not the No. 32 team in this tournament, I'll tell you that,"said Huyett, guiding a 27-4 Southern Oregon team into its third consecutive national tournament. "They have a good perimeter game, a good inside game and they can play." Nada Janackovic, a former exchange student from Pirot, Yugoslavia, tossed in 25 points, six more than her team-leading average. The 6-1 senior, who never played basketball before coming to Philomath, Ore., for her final year of high school, also grabbed nine rebounds and was 10 of 15 from the field. Denise Berry, the other half of Southern's impressive inside duo, added 17 points and the 6-foot senior matched Janackovic's nine rebounds. Kelly Dow, a 6-2 junior, totaled 19 points and nine rebounds to power the bid by Husson, which had won its last nine games in a row after a dismal 5-14 start. Dow, who missed all but three first-semester games with a thumb injury, is the only junior on coach Kissy Walker's team, made up otherwise of sophomores and freshmen. The Braves also got a second-semester boost when another Kelly Dow, this one a 5-8 freshman, transferred from Division I Maine along with classmate Erin Weston. Katie Nye and Liza Doughty, each hitting a pair of three-pointers, added 13 and 10 points, respectively, for Husson. "We're No. 32 with a 14-13 record, no one expected us to be here," said Walker. "But we watched the tape, talked a lot about what we had to do and things went pretty well for awhile there." Trailing 22-9 early on, Husson closed the gap to seven points (32-25) by halftime. The underdogs got even more serious after that, pulling within two at 47-45 with just over 12 minutes left. A jumper by Dow cut another four-point Southern lead to 56-54 with 8:54 left. However, the heavily favored Raiders scored the next 10 points and opened up a 66-54 cushion with 7:07 left. It was never closer than eight points after that and Husson, forced to launch desperation three-pointers, failed to score after trailing 70-60 with 3:49 remaining. "We knew they'd be good, we did not take them like they were No. 32," said Janackovic. "I think we finally woke up and said `OK, it's time.' We played more time.' We played more as a team at the end." Said Husson's Walker: "We had a tough time stopping (Janackovic). Typically, we're not a strong rebounding team, but they only got us 39-33 on the boards. That's not bad when you're facing the No. 1 team." Southern Oregon, seeded first but ranked No. 2 in the final regular season poll, plays the last of Friday's eight second-round contests. The 9:15 p.m. matchup pits the Raiders against either 16th-seeded Central Methodist (Mo.), a 27-8 team, or Mount Marty of Yankton, S.D., 18-10, which is playing close to home. HUSSON COLLEGE (14-14) Trott 1-9 0-0 2, Weed 1-5 2-2 5, Tobin 0-0 0-0 0, Nye 4-9 3-3 13, Doughty 2-8 4-4 10, Kelly Dow (#32) 2-9 4-4 9, Steinhart 0-0 0-0 0, Bossle 0-0 0-0 0, Kelly Dow (#34) 8-17 3-6 19, Weston 1-6 0-0 2, Roselle 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-63 16-19 60. No. 2 SOUTHERN OREGON (27-4) Berry 6-11 5-6 17, Janackovic 10-15 4-5 25, Merritt 0-0 0-0 0, Richards 2-2 0-0 4, Curran 2-5 3-4 8, Mohan 3-4 0-0 9, England 1-5 0-0 3, Fisher 1-3 0-0 2, Taylor 4-8 4-4 13, Garner 0-1 0-0 0, Spaulding 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 29-54 16-19 81. Halftime--Southern Oregon 32, Husson College 25. 3-Point goals--Southern Oregon 7-16 (Taylor 1-4, Janackovic 1-1, Mohan 3-4, Curran 1-3, England 1-4), Husson College 6-17 (Trott 0-1, Weed 1-3, Nye 2-4, Doughty 2-5, Dow (#32) 1-2, Weston 0-2). Rebounds--Southern Oregon 39 (Berry 9, Janackovic 9), Husson College 33 (Dow #34 9). Assists--Southern Oregon 12 (Richards 4), Husson College 8 (Dow #34 4). Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.