LA GRANDE, Ore. – No. 2 seed Eastern Oregon held off No. 7 seed College of Idaho 62-48 on Tuesday to advance to the semifinals of the Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank.
Trailing 52-42 with 4:11 left in the game, seniors
Hannah Maupin and
Mackenzie Royce-Radford converted back-to-back baskets to cut the deficit to just six points.
The Mountaineers (22-9, 15-5 CCC) responded to the mini run from the Yotes (12-18, 10-10 CCC) with a Jane Nelson 2-point bucket and a Madison Crews 3-pointer shortly thereafter.
C of I would not get any closer than nine points the rest of the way, with EOU holding on and advancing to host a semifinal against Southern Oregon on Friday.
Senior
Emily Harwood started the game for the Yotes with back-to-back interior baskets and would go on to finish with 13 points on a 6-of-10 effort from the floor, also adding four rebounds.
Royce-Radford posted 12 points, three assists and two steals in the final game of her collegiate career.
Freshman
Allie Cannon provided energy off the bench for the Yotes with five points, four rebounds and two steals. Junior
Tayla Sayer had eight points and three rebounds.
It was a quality start to the contest from the floor for C of I, which shot 55 percent in the first quarter. For the game, the visitors went 21-of-57 (37 percent) from the field.
The loss marked the first time since a 69-47 defeat to Morningside in March of 2013 that the Yotes did not hit a 3-pointer, going 0-of-12 from the perimeter. C of I had knocked down a triple in 200 consecutive contests.
Eastern won the battle on the glass 38-33 and went 21-of-54 (39 percent) from the floor and 6-of-19 (32 percent) from beyond the arc. The Mountaineers also converted on 14-of-17 of their tries from the charity stripe.
Taylor Stricklin led EOU with 15 points and seven rebounds, with Jane Nelson contributing 14 points and two steals.
