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Raider women come up short Photo by Alex Szlachtianshyn Southern Oregon's Tiwana Merritt (12) rises over Western's Erica Williams (center) and Aubrey Dickson. Bad start costs SOU berth to national tourney By JASON LEAVITT The Southern Oregon women�s basketball team�s run for a Cascade Conference title came to an end Monday in a 57-54 loss to Western Baptist. The loss ends the season for 25th-ranked SOU (16-14). The Raiders, looking for their third league title in four years, started out slowly against the upstart Warriors, shooting 24 percent from the field in the first half. Western, coming off an upset over No. 1 seed Albertson, connected on 12 of 24 shots for the half in earning a berth in the national tournament. Western (19-12) used a 16-2 run to build a 25-11 lead with 5:15 left in the first half. Warrior guard Tara Schmidgall had nine of those 16, including a wide-open 3-pointer to put her team up by 10. She finished with a game-high 20 points. "Defensively, we weren�t executing and were not covering them well at all," Raider coach Shirley Huyett said. Western had lost two regular-season games to the Raiders, and Warriors coach Terry Williams had his team�s defense prepared this time around. "The first time we played them, we used man-to-man defense, and the second time we used more of a zone," Williams said. "This time around, we decided to go back to man-to-man and overplay their wings on the high post." Western built a 33-19 halftime lead. "We went into the locker room and decided we only had 20 minutes to play or our season was over," senior guard Alison Richards said. "So we went out and started to play." And play they did. Sophomore Jaime Stanford got things started quickly for the Raiders when she hit a baseline jumper. It seemed to spark the Raiders. Post Sarah Peterson grabbed a wild rebound and was fouled after making a putback. She completed the three-point play, bringing the crowd to its� feet. Free throw proved to be a boon to the Raiders in the second half. They made 11 of 18 compared to Western�s 6 of 13. SOU senior guard Tiwana Merritt blocked a layup attempt by Western�s Chelsey Ward, then went the length of the court to score to pull the Raiders within 43-37. Two more free throws got SOU as close as four, then the Raiders tied it at 51-51. However, they never managed to take the lead. "For the playoffs, we determined we needed to step our defense up three notches, and the kids succeeded here tonight," Williams said. "With a little poise down the stretch, we were able to pull it out." Southern had one last second chance to tie the game but couldn�t get the shot off. It was the Raiders� first home conference playoff loss in five appearances. A teary-eyed Richards summed up Southern�s feelings after the game. "We�re crushed" she said. WESTERN BAPTIST (19-12) E. Williams 1-3 0-0 3, Gallardo 1-2 0-1 3, Dickson 4-11 2-4 10, Miller 2-6 0-0 4, A. Williams 2-4 0-0 4, Born 0-1 0-0 0, Matthews 1-2 0-0 2, Dickman 1-4 0-0 2, Ward 1-6 0-0 2, Schmidgall 5-7 8-12 20, Lundgren 2-4 3-5 7, Villwock 0-1 0-2 0. Totals: 20-51 13-24 57. SOUTHERN OREGON (16-14) Merritt 4-17 5-6 13, Stanford 4-8 1-2 10, Richards 3-7 1-2 7, Core 4-12 2-2 10, Petersen 2-6 1-1 5, Wiley 1-2 2-6 4, Hilaire 0-3 0-0 0, Tangedahl 0-3 0-0 2, Magee-Arick 0-3 0-0 0, Murphy 0-0 2-2 2, Nunley 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 19-60 16-26 54. Halftime � Western Baptist 33, Southern Oregon 19. 3-Point goals � Western Baptist 4-8 (E. Williams 1-2, Gallardo 1-1, Miller 0-2, Dickman 0-1, Schmidgall 2-2), Southern Oregon 0-8 (Merritt 0-3, Richards 0-1, Core 0-2, Tangedahl 0-1, Magee-Arick 0-1). Rebounds � Western Baptist 39 (Dickson 7), Southern Oregon 42 (Wiley 10). Assists � Western Baptist 13 (E. Williams, Dickman 3), Southern Oregon 9 (Core 3). Fouled out � Miller, Dickman, Merritt, Richards. Total fouls � Western Baptist 24, Southern Oregon 22. A � 650. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.