With last year’s Cascade Conference championship letdown still on their minds, the 10th-ranked Lewis-Clark State women’s basketball team was determined not to let No. 23 Southern Oregon get the best of it a second time.

The Warriors (16-1, 11-0 Cascade Conference) held the Raiders (13-4, 9-2) scoreless for a 10-minute stretch in the first half and overcame an early 14-point deficit to power past SOU 54-48 in a revenge game Saturday at the P1FCU Activity Center.

“I was really proud of our team,” said LCSC guard Callie Stevens, who recorded a game-high 20 points. “We did start down and could’ve given up, but we didn’t. We fought back and … we stayed poised.”

Holding ’em down

Slow starters all season, the Warriors found themselves in another big deficit early against the hot-starting Raiders.

Brianna Phiakhamgon, SOU’s leading scorer with 12 points, drained a 3-pointer to put the Raiders up 18-4 midway through the first quarter.

But that would be SOU’s last points for a stretch of 10:30 in the first and second quarters. LCSC’s zone defense settled in and Warriors embarked on a 20-0 run to take the lead, kickstarted by three consecutive 3s by Ellie Sander, Adyson Clabby and Stevens.

“We dug ourselves into a pretty big hole in that first quarter and I was really happy with how our players responded,” LCSC coach Brian Orr said. “There was no panic. We came down and got ourselves back in the game in the first quarter and from there it was just a dogfight back and forth.”

Back and forth it was. LCSC led 27-23 at the half, but SOU regained a 35-32 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

Fast-breaking away

SOU’s relentless full-court man defense is a big reason why the Raiders are second in the NAIA in scoring defense at 51.2 points allowed per game. It’s also a big reason why the Warriors struggled against them in the 56-34 loss in last year’s Cascade Conference tournament final.

But the Warriors turned SOU’s strength into a weakness this time, using a series of fast breaks to beat the press and take the lead in the fourth quarter.

It started with a Stevens transition 3 to cut the SOU lead to 41-40 with 6:43 to play.

Then came a pair of Sander layups — both on assists from Stevens — and a Stevens transition basket for a 47-41 LCSC advantage. The Warriors held on the rest of the way.

“One of the things that this team is really noted for is their full-court press,” Orr said. “Last year, that’s what gave us the most problems. So we tweaked some things … and we tried to go flying by them. We ended up with three or four breakaways (and) I thought that was the difference in the game.”

Sander finished with 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting, post Sara Muehlhausen and forward Maddie Holm combined for 19 rebounds and nine Warriors scored at least one point.

Revenge enacted

The loss in the tournament championship game on their home court was used as a bit of pregame motivation for the Warriors, who have now won 16 straight games since dropping their opener to Westmont (Calif.).

“Our little pregame talk before we came on the floor, we were like ‘It’s a revenge game for us, let’s get it. We’re not going to let that happen again,’ ” said Stevens, who scored or assisted on 13 of LCSC’s final 17 points. “It was a big win.”

WOMEN

SOUTHERN OREGON (13-4, 9-2)

Phiakhamngon 4-13 2-2 12, Walk 3-11 0-0 8, Iwami 3-13 0-0 8, Robbins 1-3 0-0 2, Allison 2-6 0-0 5, Ahllamara 1-4 0-0 3, Scurlock 0-1 0-0 0, Hernandez 0-1 0-0 0, Schmerbach 5-9 0-1 10, Williams 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-62 2-3 48.

LEWIS-CLARK STATE (16-1, 11-0)

Sander 5-10 0-0 11, Muehlhausen 1-6 2-4 4, Holm 2-9 0-2 4, Stevens 8-16 0-2 20, Broyles 3-13 0-0 7, Wilson 1-1 0-0 2, Clabby 1-1 0-0 3, Byrd 0-4 1-2 1, Green 0-1 0-0 0, Hymas 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 22-66 3-10 54.

Southern Oregon 18 5 12 13—48

Lewis-Clark State 15 12 5 22—54

3-point goals — Southern Oregon 8-33 (Walk 2-6, Phiakhamngon 2-10, Iwami 2-11, Allison 1-2, Ahllamara 1-3, Williams 0-1), Lewis-Clark State 7-22 (Stevens 4-7, Clabby 1-1, Sander 1-3, Broyles 1-6, Hymas 0-2, Holm 0-3). Rebounds — Southern Oregon 44 (Robbins 11), Lewis-Clark State 47 (Holm 10). Assists — Southern Oregon 12 (Walk, Hernandez 3), Lewis-Clark State 11 (Stevens 4). Total fouls — Southern Oregon 18, Lewis-Clark State 10. A — 507.

Wiebe may be contacted at (208) 848-2260, swiebe@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @StephanSports.