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Concordia downs SOU women photo by Alex Szlachtianshyn By Don Hunt ASHLAND � History was not on the side of the Concordia University women�s basketball team on Monday night. As it turned out, the Cavaliers didn�t need history. Guards Niecee Madrigal and Angela Rosales filled in just fine. The two juniors combined for 44 points on 15-of-26 shooting from the field and 5-of-7 marksmanship from the 3-point line as the Cavaliers overcame a seven-point deficit in the second half to pin a 73-69 defeat on Southern Oregon at McNeal Pavilion. With the victory, Concordia leapfrogged past the Raiders and into first place in the Cascade Conference. SOU is now 9-2 in conference play and 12-11 overall, while the Cavaliers are 8-1 and 12-10. Prior to Monday, Concordia had dropped 12 games in a row to the Raiders at McNeal Pavilion, dating back to the 1988-89 season. Not only that, but SOU came into the game having won 58 of its past 65 contests at McNeal. None of that mattered to this bunch of Cavaliers, who went on a 16-0 run and held SOU scorelss for nearly six minutes in the second half to turn the game around. "We work hard to get each other good shots, and tonight we played one of our best games," said Madrigal, a 5-foot-6 junior from Oxnard, Calif., who continually haunted the Raiders with pull-up jumpers and drives to the basket in the second half. "The last few games we�ve been sharing the ball really well and that makes it tough for the other team to stop us." Madrigal was nearly unstoppable in the second half when she scored 21 of her game-high 25 points. She went 8-of-13 from the field for the game, 8-of-8 from the free-throw stripe and added six assists and three steals. Rosales, the Cavaliers� point guard, bombed in four 3-point baskets and finished with 19 points. She also had a game-high 12 rebounds. "We knew we could win if we played hard and played together for 40 minutes," said Rosales, a 5-7 junior who transferred to Concordia from Oregon State last season. "I know our team hasn�t won here in a long time, but once we got the lead in the second half, you could feel the momentum swing our way." The Raiders led 39-32 at halftime and were still up by seven at 54-47 with 10:06 to play when Alison Richards drained a 15-foot jumper. But then someone seemingly sealed the SOU basket. The hosts went 5:49 without scoring while Concorida � with Rosales hitting a pair of treys and Madrigal scoring eight points � piled up 16 straight points. Madrigal�s nifty reverse layup with 4:48 remaining boosted the Cavaliers� advantage to 63-54, and SOU never quite recovered. "We were playing great and then we got stuck on 54 points for what seemed like a half-hour," Raiders coach Shirley Huyett said. "You just can�t do that against a quality team and expect to win." Southern Oregon connected on just 39 percent of its field-goal attempts and was a chilly 6-of-23 from the 3-point arc as it failed to conquer the Cavs� 1-3-1 zone defense. "We worked on that zone pretty hard in practice," Rosales said. "We clogged up the middle pretty well and forced them to take the outside shot." Despite their errant shooting, the Raiders made a late run behind senior guard Tiwana Merritt, who drilled an 18-foot jumper and then a 3-pointer that trimmed Concorida�s lead to 67-63 with one minute to play. SOU then called a timeout to set up its press, but the speedy Madrigal dribbled through it and sank a 6-foot baseline jumper on the other end with 48 seconds to go that crippled the comeback. "I just attacked their defense and thought I�d draw a foul, but I was able to get all the way to our basket and get off the shot," Madrigal said. Concordia helped its cause by sinking 18 of 25 free throws, including 13 of 17 after the intermission. Merritt paced the Raiders with 18 points, while Richards and Melissa Core added 12 each. Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.