College of Idaho Falls in CCC Opener to Southern Oregon, 72-53

ASHLAND, Ore. - Southern Oregon scored the first five points of the game on its way to a 72-53 win over College of Idaho women's basketball on Friday night. The CCC opener for both teams saw the Yotes cut the deficit to as little as three in the opening quarter and the contest.
 
The Raiders, who moved into the national rankings on Wednesday to the No. 21 spot, were paced by a 28-point effort from Kami Walk to go along with nine rebounds. She was joined in double figures by Meghan McIntyre with 11 points. With the win, SOU raises its record to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the CCC.
 
Mia Austin led College of Idaho with 20 points and McKenzie Hirsch, who was playing 18 miles from her hometown of Central Point, Oregon, added nine points and Kylie Waltermeyer also had nine in the loss. Both Waltermeyer and Austin hit three 3-pointers in the contest. The drops College of Idaho to 0-7 on the season with an 0-1 mark in CCC play.
 
After limiting the Yotes to four points in the second quarter, Walk scored 13 of her points in the third quarter as SOU stretched a 31-19 halftime lead to 48-33. In the fourth quarter, Austin knocked down a 3-pointer with 6:00 left in the final quarter to cut the deficit to 12, 55-43. The Raiders answered the threat, scoring six of the seven points to end the comeback hopes for the visitors from Caldwell.
 
The opening weekend of conference play continues for College of Idaho on Saturday as they will face an Oregon Tech team, who knocked off the 2022-23 conference co-champion Eastern Oregon on Friday at 4 p.m. (MST)/3 p.m. (PST) in Klamath Falls.