Southern Oregon University guard Kelly Dexter flies in for two of her 14 points. Dexter hit 5 of 6 shots, including 2 of 3 treys in the Raiders' 87-75 win. Ashland Daily Tidings/AMY ALONZO

Raiders storm back, beat Knights

By Joe Zavala

Ashland Daily Tidings

One run was all it took, but what a run it was.

The Southern Oregon University women's basketball team needed just 5 1/2 minutes to erase a 15-point first-half deficit en route to an 87-75 victory over previously undefeated Puget Sound Friday night, in the first round of the Super 8 Invitational at McNeal Pavilion.

The Raiders (6-5) were down 37-22 to the hot-shooting Loggers (7-1) with 5:53 left in the opening half, but used an 18-2 spurt over the next 5:24 to take a 40-39 lead.

They kept it up in the second half, taking a lead they would never relinquish just 30 seconds in on Jaime Stanford's three-point play, and controlled the game from that point on.

"We played very well," said first-year Raider head coach Kevin Wilson, who picked up his first home win. "I was really happy with the way our team played together. We had 28 assists as a team and that's more than any team I've ever coached and we only had two turnovers in the second half.

"We played as a team, we came together and they really did a lot of team things that we haven't been doing. We've been trying, trying, trying and it seemed like it gelled tonight."

The win advanced SOU to Saturday's championship game against Holy Names College (13-4), the 10th-ranked team in NAIA Division II. Holy Names beat the Raiders 85-71 at home on Nov. 30 and earned its title shot by pounding Humboldt State 76-47 in the early game.

The Raiders won with balance.

Five Raiders scored in double figures, two Raiders had eight assists and four Raiders grabbed five rebounds.

Junior forward Kara Magee-Arick came off the bench to lead the team in scoring with 16 points on 7 of 13 shooting, while junior guard Kelly Dexter added 14 points and eight assists on 5 of 6 shooting, including 2 of 3 from beyond the arc.

Junior guard Sara Marks added 15 points and five rebounds, Jaime Stanford tallied 13 and Ashley Nunley chipped in 12.

"This is the best team game we've played so far this year," Wilson said. "We've played some good games, but as for a whole team, that's the best we've played."

The Loggers were led by Julie Vanni's 28 points and 10 boards, both game-highs. Vanni, a third-team All-American and reigning Pacific Northwest Player of the Year, hit 8 of 14 shots and 12 of 15 free throws in her second game back since returning from an ankle injury.

Both teams shot well in the first half but only the Raiders kept it up, shooting 53 percent in the second half (16-for-30) while holding the Loggers to 22 percent (6-for-27).

The Raiders seemed to make every open shot in the second frame, building a 12-point lead with 5:42 left.

Puget Sound made one final push, scoring the next six points to make it 77-71 with 4:54 to go, but the Raiders answered with eight straight points, five by Magee-Arick, to clinch their most impressive win of the

season.

"I thought we did awesome," Marks said. "We had great teamwork and I think we had a great ending, slowing it down and playing it smart in the end, and that helped us pull it out. It was definitely the best team game we've ever had.

"Our defense definitely picked up and as long as we were moving our feet and had our hands up, we were able to play better defense and we got on a run, which really helped us, and we were able to stay ahead the whole time."

Southern's game-clinching rally was nearly as explosive as its first half comeback, but not quite.

Sophomore guard Lindsey Hilaire started SOU's first-half barrage with a 3-pointer, cutting Puget Sound's lead to 12. Magee-Arick followed with a jumper, then Dexter hit a trey and Marks scored on a driving layup off a steal, making it

37-32.

Freshman Lindsay May scored on a layup for Puget Sound next but it only delayed the rally. Dexter then hit another jumper, followed by a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 39-37 with 1:51 left. Hilaire's trey with 29 seconds left gave SOU a one-point lead, but Julie Vanni's jump shot put the Loggers back on top six seconds before halftime.

"I think we just clicked," said Raider forward Amy Tangedahl. "We were kind of playing slow defensively, we weren't really moving, and then our offense picked up and then our defense kind of followed.

"Everybody did something."

Dexter, who entered the game with 3:25 left in the first half, scored eight points during the run, and Hilaire added six, the 3-pointer that started it and the 3-pointer that ended it.

Puget Sound will play Humboldt State in the third-place game Saturday at 5:30 p.m., while the Raiders and Hawks will play for the title at 7:30 p.m.