Document text
Raiders' next road trip: nationals Southern Oregon wins Cascade title game over Albertson to earn a berth in the NAIA tournament By TIM PYLE Mail Tribune ASHLAND - The Raiders are red-hot, and they're rolling on to Sioux City, Iowa. With a 75-62 victory over Albertson in the Cascade Conference tournament championship game Monday night at McNeal Pavilion, the Southern Oregon women's basketball team clinched a berth in the NAIA Division II national tournament. Mixing hell-raising defense and dominant rebounding as opposed to their usual run-and-gun formula, the Raiders (19-10 overall) won for the 13th time in 15 outings, completing a terrific turnaround from their 6-8 start to the season. "I never thought I'd be happy to go to Iowa, but I guess I am," said first-year SOU head coach Kevin Wilson, whose squad tangles with the nation's best March 6-12 in Sioux City. "I'm so proud of this team for believing in each other and carrying us this far. I don't want this year to end. I love this team." The Raiders haven't been to the national tournament since 1999, which was the last of three straight appearances. They made sure the two-year drought would end by harassing Albertson (20-11) into an arctic 27.1 percent shooting night from the field, hammering the Warriors by a 59-42 count in rebounding and getting double-figure scoring from four players. Junior guard Kelley Dexter (17 points) and junior post Kara Magee-Arick (11) combined for 28 points off the Raider bench, and junior guard Sara Marks and senior forward Melissa Core each produced 16 points as starters. Core, one of two seniors on the roster, also grabbed 12 rebounds, while Magee-Arick hauled down 13. "This is definitely a great way to finish," said Core, who was 3-for-6 from the field, 2-for-3 from 3-point range and 8-for-8 from the free-throw line in front of 900 fans in her final game at McNeal Pavilion. "We went to the tournament when I was a freshman, and now we're going again when I'm a senior." SOU jumped to leads of 6-0 and 8-1 in the opening minutes, and although Albertson pulled even four times in the first half, the Raiders never trailed. A 16-3 SOU run buried the final tie, a 16-16 deadlock with about 9 minutes to play in the first half. By the time Dexter took a pass from Marks and sank a breakaway layup and senior forward Tara Murphy dropped two free throws, the Raiders were in front 32-19 with 2 minutes, 41 seconds remaining until halftime. SOU led 35-26 at the break and opened up 12-point leads three times in the first 7:30 of the second half. But the Warriors mounted a final charge, pulling to within 52-49 around the 10-minute mark when junior center Kristin Bailey drilled a turnaround jump shot to cap an 11-2 streak. Core answered with a 3-pointer from the left side on the Raiders' next possession, then Magee-Arick hit her own turnaround jumper and Albertson never challenged again. The proverbial final nail in the coffin - and prettiest play of the night - came with just less than 3 minutes to play. Junior post Amy Tangedahl snatched one of her seven rebounds and fired an outlet pass to Dexter, who found a streaking Marks up the right side. Marks, the runner-up for the Cascade player-of-the-year honor, passed across the court to Core for an uncontested layup that took all of a few seconds, and fewer dribbles, to create. That made it 69-53. "I knew we would do this," said Marks, who transferred from the College of Eastern Utah last summer and became the fourth player in SOU history to score 500 or more points in a single season Monday night. "We believe in each other and what we're doing, and that's what it takes. ... That's why I came here. I couldn't have asked for a better team." Dexter, who struck for a team-high 20 points in the Raiders' 86-85 semifinal victory at Western Baptist on Friday, also said she felt all along that SOU would climb to the top of the Cascade. "We believed it all the way," said the Corvallis native and transfer from Linn-Benton Community College, who battled for seven rebounds to accompany her team-high scoring output Monday night. "This team has a ton of heart. We just weren't going to give up." Much of the credit for the Raiders' rise must go to Wilson, who arrived from Colorado Northwestern Community College following Shirley Huyett's departure and transformed SOU into a fast-breaking terror. "We've been through a lot this year," said Wilson, who lost senior post Jaime Stanford, the team's second-leading scorer at the time, when she quit midway through the season. "This has gone from a slow-down team to a running team. And there's no way I thought we'd accomplish what we have this year. "Our team is proof-positive of that old mother's adage that says if you believe in yourself, you can do anything. You really can." ALBERTSON (20-11) Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Thompson 4-13 2-3 10, Goicoechea 4-12 5-5 15, Henrichs 4-13 6-8 15, Bailey 3-8 4-6 10, Peterson 1-8 2-2 4, Marchiano 1-4 1-2 3, Thacker 2-12 0-0 5, Darling 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-70 20-26 62. SOUTHERN OREGON (19-10) Hilaire 1-4 0-0 2, Core 3-6 8-8 16, Tangedahl 1-5 0-0 2, Nunley 1-7 1-2 3, Marks 7-15 2-4 16, Magee-Arick 4-15 2-2 11, Dexter 6-13 4-5 17, Murphy 0-0 4-6 4, Beers 0-1 0-0 0, Dolezal 1-2 2-2 4. Totals 24-68 23-29 75. Halftime-Southern Oregon 35, Albertson 26. 3-point goals-ACI 4-17 (Thompson 0-2, Goicoechea 2-8, Henrichs 1-1, Peterson 0-2, Thacker 1-4), SOU 4-17 (Core 2-3, Marks 0-4, Magee-Arick 1-6, Dexter 1-3, Dolezal 0-1). Rebounds-ACI 42 (Goicoechea 9, Henrichs 9), SOU 59 (Magee-Arick 13, Core 12). Assists-ACI 9 (Thompson 3, Bailey 3), SOU 14 (Marks 6). Team fouls-ACI 22, SOU 19. A-900. Reach reporter Tim Pyle at 776-4483 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.