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Taylor's basket boosts SOU women LA GRANDE -- Lindsey Taylor's basket with nine seconds remaining lifted Southern Oregon University to a 54-52 victory over Eastern Oregon Saturday and a share of the Cascade Conference women's basketball title. The NAIA fourth-ranked Raiders' victory coupled with Northwest Nazarene's 50-49 loss to Albertson College allowed Southern Oregon to tie for its first conference title since the 1992-93 season. Southern Oregon (24-4, 10-2 Cascade) will host a conference playoff semifinal game Friday at McNeal Paivilion against either Eastern Oregon or Western Baptist. The Mountaineers took a four point lead with two minutes left in the game, but the Raiders tied the score at 52 with about 45 seconds to go. After a defensive stop, Taylor canned a clutch 10-foot jumper for the game winner. Eastern missed a 25-footer at the buzzer. "Eastern Oregon is playing very good defense," Southern Oregon coach Shirley Huyett said. "We struggled to maintain possession of the ball at times, but we made the shots down the stretch when we needed to." The Raiders received big second half efforts from inside players Denise Berry and Nada Janackovic, who combined for 25 points after intermission. Berry ended with a game-high 20 points, while Janackovic added 18. "Nada and Denise did what they had to for us tonight," said Huyett. "They played very, very well. We did a nice job of getting the ball to them in places where they could convert." Janackovic missed her first free throw of the game to end her school record streak of 25 straight. Even though the Raiders were outrebounded, committed six more fouls and sent the Mountaineers to the foul line twice as many times, the Raiders defense proved to be the difference. SOU held Eastern to 29 percent from the field, while the Raiders shot at a 44 percent clip. "We didn't allow them a lot of good looks at the basket," said Huyett. NO. 4 SOUTHERN OREGON (24-4, 10-2) Merritt 1-2 0-0 2, Mohan 2-4 0-0 4, Richards 0-3 0-1 0, England 0-0 0-0 0, Fisher 1-2 0-0 2, Janackovic 7-16 4-6 18, Curran 0-2 0-0 0, Berry 10-15 0-0 20, Taylor 3-11 2-4 8. Totals: 24-55 6-11 54. EASTERN OREGON (12-13, 7-5) Mackin 0-0 0-0 0, Kennedy 4-0 0-0 9, Rockey 0-1 1-2 1, Gray 0-1 0-0 0, Johnson 3-9 2-2 9, Nelson 1-7 2-3 4, Schorzman 1-7 0-0 3, Cummings 1-9 0-3 2, Patton 3-5 2-2 8, Shoemaker 0-3 0-0 0, Axford 4-7 8-10 16, New 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-58 15-22 52. Halftime--S. Oregon 20, E. Oregon 20. 3-point goals--S. Oregon 0-6 (Mohan 0-2, Janackovic 0-3, Taylor 0-1), E. Oregon 3-11 (Kennedy 1-3, Johnson 1-1, Schorzman 1-6, Cummings 0-1). Rebounds--S. Oregon 33 (Janackovic 8), E. Oregon 45 (Patton 7). Assists--S. Oregon 14 (Janackovic, Taylor 4), E. Oregon 8 (Rockey 3). Total fouls--S. Oregon 20, E. Oregon 14. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.