SOU Raiders women's basketball team face off versus LC State for conference Championship.
The Southern Oregon Women’s basketball team has been having an amazing 23–24 season. Despite the Raiders 23–4 record and being ranked #22 in the nation coming into their Saturday night matchup, they were still the underdogs. The Raiders were facing off against the #6 team in the nation, the Lewis-Clark state Warriors. One of the Raiders four losses came to the Lewis-Clark state warriors earlier this season, with the score being 68–42. This game was played at the Warriors home arena in Lewiston Idaho, but this time the Raiders would be hosting the Warriors in Ashland Oregon on February 24th at the Lithia motors pavilion where the Raiders are hoping for a much different outcome.
The Southern Oregon Raiders women’s basketball team is known for its great program and winning atmosphere. Head Coach Kloppenburg-Pruitt was hired before the 2021–2022 season. Coach Kloppenburg-Pruitt has not led the Raiders to a conference championship since her arrival. The Raiders had actually not won a conference championship since the 2015–2016 season. The Raiders have always floated at the top of the conference but never seem to win the big games to them over the hump. But coming into their matchup versus the Lewis-Clark state warriors, the Raiders were just one win away from that conference championship they have been longing for 8 years.
The Raiders are led by senior forward Kami Walk out of Eugene Oregon. Walk is a two time All-American for the Raiders and a four-year starter. Although Walk has had a great career so far, she was still missing one thing, a conference championship. Although Walk scored eighteen points on a season high 60.1% shooting from the field in the Raiders first match up versus the Warriors, it was just not enough. With Walk’s last regular season game and last chance to win a conference championship, will the Raiders perform when the stakes are high, will walk go out a champion?
February 24th 2024, Lithia motors pavilion 5:00 pm, the gym is packed and the game has started. It seemed like all of Ashland was at the game cheering on their Raiders women’s basketball team. Although the gym is loud with chants from the raider fans, the Lewis-Clark state Warriors get off to a hot start finding themselves an early 8–2 lead. The Raiders stay in it and find themselves down 12–17 halfway through the first quarter. Junior guard Meghan Mclntyre hits some big shots for the Raiders to finish the first quarter strong giving the Raiders a 19–17 lead going into the second quarter. The Raiders continue their strong play and take a five-point lead early in the second quarter 24–19. But the Warriors quickly came back and tied the game at 24 apiece. The two teams continue to go back and forth throughout the second quarter leading to the halftime buzzer going off with the Raiders trailing the Warriors 31–32 at the half.
As the second half starts the teams continue to battle with neither team showing any signs that they’re going to take a large lead. Mclntyre and Walk continue to lead the raiders in scoring combining for 7 of the Raiders 13 3rd quarter points. The Raiders head into the 4th quarter behind 3 points 44–47. The Raider quickly found themselves down 7 early in the 4th, the Raiders responded with two huge 3 pointers by senior forward Mallory Williams to cut the lead to one. The Warriors would respond with two free throws by junior guard Ellie Sander to increase the lead to three. The Raider or the Warriors couldn’t seem to score a basket as the next two minutes of the game would go scoreless before the raiders would get on the board with two free throws to cut the lead back to one.
The game was tied 58–58 with 15 seconds left on the clock, the Raiders had possession. The Raiders would inbound the ball and pass it into the high post to their all-American Kami Walk, Walk would turn and face the basket, drive left and finish at the rim with a layup to give the Raiders a 2-point lead with 1.6 seconds left on the clock. The Warriors would get one last shot, but they just come up short, missing their game tying shot. The final buzzer goes off and the Southern Oregon Raiders after 8 long years were NAIA Cascade conference champions once again.
After the game Coach Kloppenburg-Pruitt stated how badly her players wanted to win this game and how hard they had worked to get to this moment. Coach then proceeded to thank the fans for coming to the game and stated “Raider nation showed out, I mean it was awesome. They were huge, they made them miss a couple free throws. I can’t express enough having that whole group in here as wild as they were, it was massive”. This shows the huge love and support the town of Ashland has for each other. Although the raiders celebrated and were happy with this win, they were now onto the playoffs with bigger goals in mind.