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Raiders squeak past Western Baptist By Don Hunt ASHLAND � Southern Oregon University women�s basketball coach Shirley Huyett wasn�t too worried when her team started the season 0-6 back in December. After all, each loss had come against NCAA Division II schools. The tough competition early in the season would spawn success once the Raiders got into league play, Huyett hoped. It did, and now SOU is reaping the rewards. Forward Melissa Core led a balanced scoring attack with 15 points and point guard Alison Richards had a magnificent all-around performance Saturday night at McNeal Pavilion as the Raiders secured a 63-59 Cascade Conference victory over Western Baptist. The win was the Raiders� 10th in their past 14 games, it kept them atop the conference standings with a 7-1 record and it elevated them to the .500 mark (10-10) for the first time this season. Western Baptist fell to 11-9 overall and 5-3 in league play. "Those early games helped our intensity level in practice and made us a better team," Huyett said. "When you�re 0-6, you�re eager to get better and start putting some W�s on the board." This Raider team doesn�t have a lot of offensive firepower, but it might be Huyett�s best defensive squad at SOU since she took over the program 10 years ago. Richards personifies the team�s tenacious approach. The Phoenix High graduate scored just nine points Saturday, but registered a game-high 12 rebounds and added seven steals, five assists and just three turnovers in 37 minutes. "We have to shut people down or we can�t win," said Richards, a 5-foot-8 senior. "We work on defense a lot in practice. Everyone takes pride in it." That includes Core, SOU�s leading scorer on the season at 10.7 points per game but also one of its in-your-face defenders. The junior from Cave Junction held Western Baptist star Aubrey Dickson to just three points on 1-for-8 shooting Saturday. Dickson went into the contest averaging 18.3 points, third-best in the Cascade Conference. "She moves really well without the ball and I just denied her as much as I could," Core said. "And then when she got the ball I got in her face. "Defense isn�t complicated; it�s just hustle and desire." After a 34-34 halftime tie, Southern Oregon built as much as an 11-point lead in the second half when Core drained a pair of free throws with 7:54 to play that made it 53-42. But the visiting Warriors went on an 8-1 run, the final points coming on a 3-point basket by Tati Gallardo, to creep within 54-50 with 5:10 remaining. The Raiders did nothing at the offensive end during the next 2� minutes, but put on a defensive clinic to keep the score from changing. Richards had two steals and Core took a charge during that stint. Finally, SOU reserve forward Kara Magee-Arick broke the scoring drought when she flipped in an 8-foot hook with 2:31 to go. Senior guard Tiwana Merritt added five free throws and Core two the rest of the way, giving SOU enough breathing room to compensate for three late 3-pointers by the Warriors. "We went a couple of stretches during the second half without scoring," Western Baptist coach Terry Williams said. "They played good defense, but we made things worse for ourselves by missing the front end of three one-and-ones. "We also gave up 17 offensive rebounds, and you just can�t do that when you�re on the road against a team like Southern Oregon and expect to win." Merritt added 13 points and five steals, and sophomore forward Jamie Stanford had 11 points and eight rebounds for the Raiders, who rang up a 40-35 edge on the boards. Gallardo and Kim Villwock had 11 points each for the Warriors. SOU shot just 32 percent from the field for the game, but used a 26 of 34 showing from the charity stripe to help its cause. Core, who went into the contest shooting 82.9 percent from the line � tops in the conference and 15th-best in the nation among NAIA schools � led the way with a 10-of-11 effort. WESTERN BAPTIST (11-9, 5-3) Williams 2-3 0-0 6, Gallardo 4-5 0-0 11, Dickson 1-8 1-4 3, Lundgren 3-7 0-0 6, Villwock 3-4 5-6 11, Born 1-3 0-0 3, Matthews 0-0 2-2 2, Dickman 0-0 0-0 0, Miller 3-8 1-2 7, Williams 1-1 1-2 3, Schneider 0-1 0-0 0, Ward 3-6 0-0 7, Schmidgall 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 21-49 10-16 59. SOUTHERN OREGON (10-10, 7-1) Merritt 3-12 7-11 13, Richards 3-9 3-5 9, Core 2-7 10-11 15, Stanford 4-7 3-3 11, Petersen 1-2 0-0 2, Wiley 2-6 0-0 4, Murphy 0-1 0-0 0, Nunley 0-0 0-0 0, Hilaire 0-7 0-0 0, Magee-Arick 2-3 3-4 7, Tangedahl 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 18-56 26-34. Halftime�W. Baptist 34, S. Oregon 34. 3-Point goals�W. Baptist 7-16 (Williams 2-3, Gallardo 3-4, Dickson 0-2, Born 1-2, Miller 0-2, Schneider 0-1, Ward 1-2), S. Oregon 1-5 (Merritt 0-2, Richards 0-1, Core 1-2). Rebounds�W. Baptist 35 (Villwock 9), S. Oregon 40 (Richards 12). Assists�W. Baptist 19 (Williams, Miller, 4), S. Oregon 10 (Richards 5). Total fouls�W. Baptist 29, S. Oregon 15. A�500. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.