ASHLAND, Ore. – After hanging tight with an NAIA Top 25 team through the first half this afternoon, the Corban University Women's Basketball team (8-7, 5-4) struggled on both the offensive and defensive ends in the second half to suffer a 71-34 road conference defeat to the No. 23 Southern Oregon University Raiders (12-3, 8-1) at the Lithia Motors Pavilion.

"SOU is a top defensive team in the nation and did a great job of being physical and keeping us out of our comfort zone," Warriors' Head Coach Bill Pilgeram stated shortly after the completion of the contest.

"I like a lot of the things we did in the first half, especially on the defensive end. We will continue to work on our defensive flow and efficiency as we continue on in the CCC schedule," Pilgeram concluded.

Within the first three possessions for Southern Oregon, the Warriors had already forced two shot clock violations, something Corban needed to take advantage of if they had any chance of securing a road victory today. By the first media break, the Navy and Gold held a slight 5-4 lead due to lockdown defense and shots from in the paint and behind the three-point line.

The Raiders bounced back in the final five minutes of the quarter to take a 13-9 lead, as their offense began to find momentum as the contest grew longer. While they originally struggled with the Warriors' defense, they quickly began to find points of entry towards the basket.

Meanwhile, the Warriors quick start offensively was stopped in its tracks by a full court press administered by the Raiders, forcing multiple turnovers and poor shot selections for SOU to jump out to a bigger lead as time ticked off the game clock.

Despite Southern Oregon's best efforts to put this game away early, the Warriors continued to hang around and trail by single digits at the break, 27-19 with a half to go. Corban junior guard Maddie Godwin had the tie for the game-high in points through the first two quarters, as she and SOU forward Kami Walk each had seven points apiece.

Unfortunately for Warrior Nation, Corban continued to struggle offensively to kick start the third quarter, scoring just two points between the start of the half and the third quarter media timeout. That trend continued throughout the quarter, as the No. 23 Raiders stretched their lead to 54-28 with one final quarter to play. The Warriors scored just nine points in the quarter, while SOU dropped 27 points, doubling up their halftime score.

The massive third quarter advantage proved to stand in the end for the Raiders, as the Warriors couldn't keep up with the high-octane offense that SOU touts as an NAIA Top 25 team. The Raiders dominated on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball to earn the 71-34 victory on their home court, holding Corban to their lowest field goal percentage of the season thus far at 20.7%.

Only three Warriors scored more than six points tonight, as Godwin and redshirt freshman Tori Younker each tallied seven points apiece, combined with an additional six points from junior guard Kirsten Koehnke. Sophomore forward Madison Hodnett earned her highest rebounding total for a single game this season with 10 boards today, adding four points and three blocks in a strong defensive showing for the 6'3 Nampa native.

The Raiders shot a balmy 42.9% from the field as a team, including 38.5% from behind the three-point arc to steamroll the Warriors offensively. Forward Clara Robbins dropped a game-high 12 points and hauled in 13 rebounds for a double-double. Wallk finished with nine points and five boards, while guard Yasmine Ahllamara came off the bench to score 10 points and deal out a game-high six assists.

The Warriors return home for the first time in almost a month this upcoming weekend, as they're set to host the No. 20 Eastern Oregon University Mountaineers (13-2, 8-1) and College of Idaho Yotes (9-6, 4-5) on Friday at 5:30pm PST and Saturday at 3pm PST, respectively. You can purchase tickets ahead of time by clicking HERE and selecting your game of choice

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