BOX SCORE

SALEM, Ore. – Corban's women's basketball team got as close as three points in the final minutes of the game, but could not overcome timely defense and free throw shooting down the stretch by the visiting Raiders of Southern Oregon in an 83-74 loss Friday inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.

Corban (11-13, 6-6 CCC) was led offensively by junior Tara Vanweerdhuizen with a game-high tying 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field and 6-of-11 at the free throw line, while also pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season. Along with the 6-foot-2 Vanweerdhuizen's offensive output, sophomore Jade Lowery and freshman Sadie Pilgeram also scored in double figures with 18 and 12 points, respectively, with sophomore Julia Young and junior Danielle Vanderstoel providing six points each. On the boards, Vanweerdhuizen was aided by Vanderstoel with six rebounds to go along with a three-assist night by Young and Lowery. Vanweerdhuizen registered a game-high four blocked shots to increase her career total to a school-record 296, which brings her three-year total within four blocks of becoming the first player in program history to tally more than 1,000 points and 300 blocked shots in a career.

Southern Oregon (18-6, 7-5 CCC) would get a game-high tying 20 points from Allison Gida, while three other Raiders – Autumn Durand, Carly Meister, and Kristen Schoenherr – also scored in double figures with 19, 11, and 10 points, respectively. On the boards, Meister pulled down a team-high eight rebounds to go along with a game-high four assists by Durand.

Over the opening five minutes of the game, Southern Oregon built a six-point lead (12-6) on a jumper in the paint by Durand before the visiting Raiders extended their lead to 26-18 six minutes later on a lay-in by Gida at the 9:06 mark. Corban would get within a bucket (28-26) on a Vanderstoel lay-in with 5:21 on the clock before Southern Oregon used a 10-6 run over a three-minute span to go ahead by the score of 38-32. Over the final few minutes of the first half, both teams scored four points resulting in a 42-36 lead at halftime for Southern Oregon.

The second half would begin with Southern Oregon using a 9-2 run over the opening three minutes en route to building a 13-point cushion (51-38) on a lay-in by Durand at the 17:24 mark. Over the next seven minutes, Corban used a 15-7 run to pull within five points (58-53) on a fast break lay-in by Vanderstoel at the 10:30 mark. Unfortunately, Southern Oregon would quickly push its lead back to double digits (68-53) after a 10-0 run over a span of two-plus minutes concluded on a jumper in the paint by Gida with 7:37 remaining. Using its never-say-die attitude, Corban put together a 21-9 run over the next six minutes to pull within the aforementioned three points (77-74) on a three-pointer from the corner by sophomore Kelli Christenson with 80 seconds left on the clock. That would be as close as the home team would get, as Southern Oregon closed out the game on a 6-0 run for the final difference of nine points (83-74) after Ashley Claussen hit four straight free throws to cap the game's scoring.

As a team, Corban combined to shoot 27-for-67 (40.3%) from the field that included a 3-for-17 (17.6%) performance from beyond the three-point line and a 17-of-27 (63.0%) showing at the free throw line. On the other hand, Southern Oregon was a combined 27-for-58 (46.6%) from the field, 3-of-9 (33.3%) from long distance, and 26-of-33 (78.8%) at the charity stripe.

Corban will return to action tomorrow – Saturday, February 1st – against the NAIA's No. 20-ranked Hustlin' Owls of Oregon Tech beginning at 5:30 p.m. inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.